ΩSerena Black the Daughter of ArtemisΩ
by Serena Black1999
Summary: Serena Black Daughter of Sirius Orion Black AKA Padfoot (rebirth of the original Orion) and Lady Artemis. she helps both Percy Jackson and harry Potter fight there enemy's while fighting her own, going through school and training, taking care of her pack (Read for info), ext. ext. In the process of rewriting to make it more realistic. also working on other stories.
1. Preface

Introduction

**3rd person P.O.V**

Serena Dorea Black new she was special and she knew it was something to do with her mother. Serena's mother left her with a kind couple by the names of Andy Evens and Anna Evens nee Thomas. The couple had tried for a child before and the doctors told them Anna was incapable of having any. When Serena was two the little family moved to the United States. Once Serena was old enough (Four years old) to ask "why did mommy not want me?" Anna, or Auntie Anna as Serena called her, told her "your mommy loved you very much but her daddy doesn't know you exist". Serena was very intelligent and understood everything. At the age of six Serena became interested in hunting and weapons. She looked at the compact and hunting bows every time Uncle Andy went to the outdoors store to get ammunition for his hunting rifle. 6 days before her 10th birthday he asked "which one is your favorite?" she pointed at one that looked like a traditional Greek hunting bow with quiver but with a slight modern style to it. He nodded then took her to the hunting-throwing knife set and did the same thing. She pointed at one set that matched the bow. Both sets of weapons were painted black except the metal parts. He nodded then took her home knowing she would not see those weapons again for at least a year. The next day they packed, the day after that the family of three moved back to England. It was her 11th birthday Serena's life took an unusual turn.

A/N: Da da da daaa. What do you think happened? Keep reading and find out.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The Birthday

Serena's POV

I woke up on a perfect warm sunny summer day to my Aunt Anna and Uncle Andy shouting "HAPPY BIRTHDAY SERENA!" very loudly. I was surprised. I looked at my calendar and it said July 30th 2010, my 11th birthday. Uncle Andy told me" Today we're going to the zoo! "They took me on day outings every year for my birthday. I got dressed and went downstairs for breakfast. After eating we got into the car and left. The zoo was one of my favorite places to go. I love going to the wolves habitats. I knew my mother had a connection with wolves and whenever I was near them I felt almost at home. After looking at all of the other kinds of animals except the wolves which we always look at last we want to the reptile house. As I looked at a small black rat snake I heard a commotion and turned to the sound. Four people were standing at the Boa constrictor tank. They looked like an old cowboy zoo themselves. The woman looked like a horse, the man looked like a cow, the first boy who was obviously the two's son looked like a pig, and the other boy who I assume is the pig like boy's friend looked like a rat. The noise I heard was the rat and pig taunting the Boa constrictor and the horse and cow only cheered them on. I was angry, scratch that beyond angry I was furious. I may not like snakes as much as other animals but snakes were still cool animals. These people were going to hear what I have to say about that.

I walked over and leaned on the wall behind them and said" Your lucky the snake is trapped behind the glass" they jumped and turned "because if he were out here you would be snake chow" I heard my aunt and uncle walk up. Piggy boy stepped forward and said" I like you. Sorry I should have introduced myself, the names Dersley, Dudley Dersley. You have such a witty mind and would look perfect as my girlfriend." "I would rather suffer in Tartarus then date you. Besides I'm not interested in to bullying pigs blubber boy." A crowd who formed went "Ooohh" I smiled and bowed quickly. Bacon kid's daddy turned purple with rage and yelled" Tell your ***** daughter to apologize to my perfect son." They looked at me. I sigh and say "I am so sorry. I'm sorry your moronic parents don't watch what you eat although after seeing your dad there I'm positive that they think getting diabetes is normal. Also" I say turning to Sr." Insult me like that again and I will make sure my mother turns you into a jackalope." I turned and we went to the wolf habitats so I could calm down. "Why did I say those things?" I asked looking at aunt and uncle. "What things?" uncle asked. "I said things like Tartarus and 'My mother will turn you into a bunny with antlers' things like that." They did this 'look-at-each-other-and-understand-without-saying-anything-so-Serena-won't-know' thing that I hated. Assuming that they, like usual, won't tell me I looked at a Mother wolf that had just given birth to 7 cubs that were across the room. The cubs were about three weeks old. Apparently the animal quartet didn't know when they weren't wanted because they were messing with the wolves. This time I saw red. They were messing with my wolves. The mother wolf was on her feet snarling warningly at them because they were taunting her more than they did the snake and they were too close to her cubs. They were going to pay. I remember wishing in the back of my head the glass would vanish then in one instant the glass was gone and the mother wolf, I somehow knew she was called Konia, was standing over tubby Sr. and ratty. Tubby Jr. ran forward and hit her across the head. I ran forward and grabbed his arm twisted it behind his back and tripped him.

"Now you listen here you stupid fat pig! You and the three with you leave now and hope on your life we do not meet again or next time I will not hesitate to make you wish you never even thought about being born. Messing with snakes I am upset with messing with wolves – well your lucky you're still alive. Now LEAVE!" I stood up and looked at the wolf and said" Konia let them leave." The wolf stepped back into the habitat. The four got their gear and ran out of there like barn animals chased by a coyote or in this case a wolf. I walked over and stood five feet away. Konia walked over slowly over stopping right in front of me. I then did something I have always wanted to do; I reached out and pet her. After a few minutes of standing there Konia walks back to her cubs. I hesitantly stepped up to where the glass should be. Looking at the cubs I saw not one but two runts both lying side by side shivering while the other cubs were together. Konia picked up the runts one a time and put them in my arms and looked me in the eyes. I understood her meaning perfectly 'take care of them and treat them like normal pups'. I looked down and watched the pups try to wiggle closer to the warmth of my body. I somehow knew she hadn't figured out names for them. I told her "I'll give them good names". With my backpack on my back on my back and my cubs in my arms I thanked her and we left. As I watched the two cubs snuggle together in my arms I started thinking about names the one on the left had solid black fur, I decided to call him shadow. I called the other one midnight because his fir was that shade. When we got home I put Shadow and Midnight on my bed and went to my closet and pulled out the doggy bed, blanket, and toys I kept from when I found a dog that I called padfoot(A/N: guess whooo!). I took them out of my jacket (where I put them to keep them warm) put them in the doggy bed. They slept for five more minutes before waking up for food. I ran to the kitchen pulled a stake out of the freezer put them on a plate for five minutes pulled them out chopped them up and put them in the doggy bowl that I cleaned.

I went to my bedroom and put the bowl in front of them. They sniffed it then ate it like it was the best thing in the world. I realized they might be thirsty so I grabbed the other doggy bowl and went back to the kitchen. I pulled the milk out of the fridge and pored some into the bowl. I put the milk back in the fridge and took the bowl and went once again back to my room. The wolves drank the milk faster than they ate the stake. I watched the wolves play for a bit until Aunt Anna called from downstairs" Serena it's time to go!" my birthday party! I grabbed the wolves and ran downstairs. When I got downstairs I saw Uncle went to the pet store and got a cage two leashes and two collars. I Put the collars on the wolves, gently set them in the cage, and shut the door. I put the leashes in my backpack with a few doggy toys. Out in the car I set the cage beside me in the back seat and strapped it in. after I did the same to myself I prepared for excitement. Every year on my birthday my aunt's whole family got together and we celebrated. There was only one family member I hated and that was "auntie Em". She told us to call her that and that was all she said. It freaked Aunt Anna out because she didn't have any relatives named Em. So naturally I tried to avoid her which didn't work as she seemed to follow me. At lunch time everyone had ham sandwiches and apple juice. After dinner we did cake and Ice cream then it was time for presents. Everyone sat in a circle and somehow "Auntie Em" was next to me. Uncle Andy started handing me presents then Aunt Anna heard someone at the door so we waited for her I started talking to my cousin Dean and his friend Seamus. When she came back three men, a woman, and a boy Dean's age were with her, Aunt Anna said "Serena this is your father Professor Sirius Black, your godfather Professor James Potter and his wife professor Lily Potter nee Evens, Dean's year mate Harry Potter and Professor Remus Lupin your honorary uncle" Surprise.

I looked at them and said "Dean and Seamus seem to know you so you must teach at their school and I'm sorry if this sounds rude but what are you doing here? I mean other to meet me, tell me who you are, and ask if I want to live with you." Sirius stepped forward and said" It is now your 11th Birthday so like many others before you including Dean and Seamus We would like to offer you a place at Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry." He handed me a letter. I read it:

Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry

Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus

Headmaster Albus P.W.B. Dumbledore (order of merlin 1st class, Grand sorcerer, chief warlock, supreme mugwump of the wizingomat, International confidant for wizards)

Dear Miss Serena Black,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry. If you accept we will await your Owl by no later than the 31st of July. Please note that a list of supplies has been included on the second piece of parchment.

Yours sincerely,

_Minerva McGonagall_

Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress and transfigurations professor at Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry.

I looked at the second page and it said:

UNIFORM

First-year students will require:

3 sets of plain work robes (Black)

1 plain pointed hat (Black) for day wear

1 set of dress robes or dress (for special occasions)

1 pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

1 winter cloak (Black, silver fastenings)

1 set of practice Quidditch robes (black)

Students uniforms require name tags

BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emetic Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

The Monstrous Book of Monsters by Newt Scamander

A self-Updating Guide to Magical and non-magical Defense by Sirius Black

A learner's guide to Broomstick Riding, Making, and Repair by James Potter

The Intelligence of muggles by Lily Potter (Evens)

OTHER EQUIPMENT

Wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set of glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scale

1 unassembled broomstick (Nimbus or Cleansweep brand recommended)

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BRING THERE OWN ASEMBLED BROOMSTICKS

That was a lot to handle. As I was about to say yes Aunt Anna said" how about you think about it while you open your presents?" "Ok" I said.

For some reason I ended up with 40 presents! I sat and opened whichever one was shoved at me. Finally I had opened all but 8 presents. In the first 38 presents were 10 full outfits (muggle), 4 black winter hats with matching gloves, 2 big boxes of broken electronics (great-grandpa was given weird looks from the other guest but, like Aunt Anna and Uncle Andy, he knew I liked to build stuff), 1 tool box, 6 boxes of books ( 10 muggle books each), 1 new laptop, 1 new iPad, 1 new iPod, 1 new CD player, 4 pairs of black shoes, 1 bag of cheap 0.99 cent pens ("aunty Em" was really cheap) . Uncle Andy looked up at Aunt Anna not sure what to give me next. Mrs. Potter stepped forward and pushed the largest of 3 gifts from the Potter family. Inside were all of my course books for the school year along with the brass scales, Crystal phials, and telescope. I set the box to the side and was handed the 2nd one from the Potters, which had a gift certificate to Madame Malkin's robes for all occasions and a small trunk titled "Quidditch". I opened the trunk and inside was four balls. The biggest had a label in front of it that said" Quaffle" the two medium twins- like ones were called "Bludger" and the littlest one, that was the size of a golf ball, was labeled "snitch". I closed the trunk set it with the first box from them and grabbed the third one. Inside were 50 Chocolate frogs. I thanked them and ate one which was a trick in itself because it was charmed to act like a real frog but I managed and started my own chocolate frog card collection. Next was Mr. Lupin's gift which turned out to be 10 wizarding books and an owl. Dad's gift was an assembled broom. "That" Mr. Potter said" is a firebolt. It's the fastest broom in the United Kingdom and surrounding areas. It goes from 0 to 150 in 10 seconds. There's only one faster in the United States that goes from 0 to 200 in 10 seconds. It's called the lightning racer. It is limited edition."

I stared in shock. My dad bought me the fastest broom in the England. I heard Sirius say "I thought she could learn how to ride on this one and I already have her unassembled one at my place at Hogwarts." And I knew by his voice that he got me the lightning racer (though I wouldn't care if it was the slowest broom in the world I was happy he got me something). Uncle Andy said "there are 3 more presents." He handed me the one from Aunt Anna. Inside was a black electric guitar with amplifier and case and a certificate to get a design put on it. I thanked her several times before turning to the next present which happened to be Uncle Andy's. I couldn't believe what was inside the box. It was the weapons I told Uncle Andy I wanted a year and 13 days ago. Everyone told me to pull them out but I told them that if I did I wouldn't be able to open the last present. Uncle Andy handed me a card and a necklace box. I opened the card and read:

Dear Serena,

I told your caretakers to give this pendent to you on your 11th birthday. It has special spells on it to protect you and help you and the weapon's I knew you would request. I said spells because as you most probably already know you and your father are magical .I too have magic but not the same as you. Remember these 6 rules: 1st If you are ever in danger grip the moon on the pendent and say 'I solemnly swear I am in mortal danger' and it will protect you, 2nd go Ravenclaw or Slytherin, 3rd boys are out of the question, 4th wolves are your friends, 5th Ignore people who look at you like you don't belong you are not alone, and finally 6th I will always love you my daughter.

Love

Your mother

I opened the box. Inside was a simple silver chain with a moon the size of the palm of my hand. I put It on just as "Aunty Em" stepped back and said "finally I can kill you!" everyone except the adult wizard and me ran to the house. The creepy lady started to take of her glasses and I suddenly yelled "Close your eyes it's Medusa!" I clutched the pendent with my left hand and said "I solemnly swear I am in mortal danger". Then full Greek battle armor with the moon on it was on me glowing like the moon would in the day. The weapon's from Uncle Andy ware on me and the metal was doing the same as the armor. I had knives sheathed on my legs, waist, arms, and lower back. I had the bow in my right hand and the quiver on my back. I grabbed my backpack, pulled my sunglasses out, and put them on under the helmet. I pulled out knife after knife and threw them at her. After three knives she was gone. I grabbed the knives from the ground and sheathed them. I touched the moon on my chest plate and said "problem solved". The armor was gone; the moon pendent was back, and the weapons back in the box. I walked over to the gifts and put them in as few boxes as I could. Dean and Seamus came and helped me carry them to the spare room where I left midnight and shadow. I changed into a white t-shirt on with the leather pants, jacket, and boots Grandpa Had Dean get me from the magic world. After I looked closer I saw hidden places for my knives. I just finished putting the bow across my shoulders dad, Aunt Anna, and Uncle Andy came in. and I could tell by their faces they were talking about my living arrangements. "Serena" Aunt Anna said" your uncle and I love you very much but, we think I would be best for you to live with your father. The truth is me and Andy Are both demi-gods, and so are you. Andy is a son of Zeus and I am a daughter of Demeter. We don't know who your mother is, but the scent of Andy alone is a lot adding our scents to the mix and the monsters have a buffet. So we think you should go with Sirius for about a week and then go to our camp for the last two and half weeks." I thought for a moment then said" ok". Dad walked over to my boxes, tapped them with his wand and they shrunk. He put the small boxes in my backpack. I put the backpack on in a way so I needed to get my bow I wouldn't need to take of the backpack. It was after he held it out to me that I realized that he didn't shrink my broom. He saw my confusion and told me "since its getting cloudy I figured we could fly to diagon ally to get a trunk for all of your things." I understood and took the broom very unafraid. We went to the back lawn dad carrying his broom and my wolves. We saw Aunt Anna and Uncle Andy standing with James and Lily Potter both of whom had boxes I knew was my stuff from home. They told me the boxes were what I thought they were and I told them to put them in my backpack. Dad strapped the wolf cage to his broom then came over to me. He saw I had put the broom on the ground and happened to be standing on its left side.

"Ok" he said to me" put your right hand over your broom and say up." I held my hand over the broom, opened my mouth said "u-"and it was in my hand within a second. Dad happily showed me how to mount and kick off from the ground. I love flying. We started to fly off to London after saying goodbye. Today was a long day. As we flew (at 30 mph because Dad thought I should take It slow) I thought about where we were going. Slowly I started to speed up making him speed up. When we got to charring cross road 30 minutes after we left the party I did the math in my head and if I didn't speed up we would have taken another 2 hours to land. Dad looked at me and I knew that he knew I started to speed up but, instead of getting mad he told me I was a natural born flyer. He unstrapped the cage from his broom and handed it to me, shrunk the brooms, and put them in his pocket. I pulled my wolves out of the cage and put them on a leash then dad shrunk the cage, put it in with the brooms, and led me and the wolves into a pub called _the leaky cauldron_. Now I was getting the rest of my magic stuff. I was going to Diagon Ally.

**A/N: I know harry wasn't born in 1997 but I had to change it to fit the story line. Next stop the Wizarding Worlds. Please review.**


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The Wizarding World

We walked through the pub and stepped into the empty courtyard in the back. Dad stepped up to a spot on the brick wall, pulled out his wand, tapped a couple of bricks, and stood back. Soon there was an arch big enough for at least a half-giant appeared. On the other side was a busy Ally. "Welcome Serena "Dad says" to Diagon Ally". I was amazed; it was so colorful and bright. We walked to the biggest and whitest building I have ever seen. Dad tells me it's the wizarding bank _Gringotts_. As we got closer to the door I saw an inscription above it. The inscription said:

_Enter, stranger, but take heed_

_Of what awaits the sin of greed'_

_For those who take, but do not earn,_

_Must pay most dearly in their turn,_

_So if you seek beneath our floors_

_A treasure that was never yours,_

_Thief, you have been warned, beware_

_Of finding more than treasure there._

For some reason the threatening poem didn't threaten me. It might have been the fact that I had faced Medusa two hours ago. Dad walked me up to a counter and said" I need to speak to the black family account manager". The goblin nodded and led us to a room with another goblin. Once the first goblin left (pausing to glare at Shadow and Midnight) dad turned to the second one and said" Hello Griphook may your vaults be overflowing and your income never wavering." Griphook responded to 'Lord Black' in the same way. "Today we have very little to do. First I need another Black family withdrawal bag and second I need a withdrawal bag from the Olympian family; the one with strange money." Griphook nodded and waved his left hand. Two money bags flew into the room. Griphook handed them to Dad who in turn handed them to me. Dad paid for the bags and we made for the door but, before we got there Griphook's eyes widened he scrambled in front of me bowed as low as he could and said "Milady Serena Dorea Black-Pendragon-Slytherin heir of Durnure the Black of . It is an honor to have you hear."

At seeing my confusion the goblin said "you are the magical heir of the Most royal house of Pendragon, and the blood heir of the Noble and Most Ancient house of sir Durnure the Black Knight of the round table, and the Noble and most Ancient house Slytherin. If you come back at a later date you can claim Lord – I mean Ladyship." I stared at him a minute before setting up an appointment for three days before the train left, than we exited the bank. I looked at the list crossing off what I already had and then we went off to get what I didn't have. The first place we went to was Madame Malkin's where I got my three sets of robes for Hogwarts, and then we went to the Apothecary for a cauldron and two sets of crystal vials. At the magical menagerie dad told me to any animals I wanted (but no more than 2 more). I walked into the back. There I found a wolf cub the same age as Shadow and Midnight. When the shopkeeper saw my choices in companions he said "Those wolf cubs you have are the children of a shadow wolf and from my guess a large black one not unlike a hellhound descendent". I asked the storekeeper to keep them here until I got back at the end of the summer. We walked over to Ollivandar wand shop for my wand. We walked in and I said "hello?" looking around. I felt a strong tingling sensation in the air and started sneezing. Ollivandar ran out of the back room and said "_virtus dispergam_!" which I somehow understood to mean power scatter. I instantly stopped sneezing. "Interesting" said the wand maker "very interesting. Do you know who your mother is?" "We don't know for sure but we know she is very powerful." "Well I know that I don't have a wand made for you so let's all three go into the back room and custom make one for you. I will also sell it to you for four galleons." I looked at dad, He nodded.

The back room was set up like a normal store/work shop. The wall to on our left had several kinds of wood, the wall on the right had a crafting table, the wall with the door we came threw had different kinds of phoenix tail feathers unicorn hair and dragon heart string, and the wall opposite the door had all kinds of other cores. The wand maker gave me a potion and told me it made it so I can feel which types of wood core and, depending on the wand, power gem. I drank the potion that felt like liquid ice sliding down my through. I walked over to the wood and grabbed one piece of moon wood and one piece of Chestnut, At the cores I chose a bit of wolf hair, a vial of snake venom, and one dragon's Heartstring. Over at the power gems I got a moon crystal that was said to have fallen off of the original moon chariot of Artemis. I also grabbed a Greek sword that I'm sure wasn't there before. As he saw what I chose he raised his eyebrows. He asked "how long, about 13in. Ok, your wand will be done in an hour and a half. I advise you to use that time to get ice cream from Mr. Florisque's ice cream parlor. They are having a free ice cream day." We left the shop and went to get ice cream. After an ice cream we went to Madame Malkin's robes shop. I got my school robes. I chose a dress that was green with silver lining and black over coat. For my Quidditch robes I went to **_Quality Quidditch Supplies._** I got the plain black ones then I had them add _Hogwarts_ ware the team name would be and my name where it belongs.

We went to the leaky cauldron for dinner. After we ate we went to get me a trunk. I found a trunk made out of black oak wood. It had not only a normal compartment but also a closet, library/study, technology lab, an animal transport compartment, and a potions supplies closet. It cost 1000 galleons with protection spells. Dad got it and had a shrinking charm on it as well as an unbreakable charm. I took my trunk to the leaky cauldron I asked for a room and put my stuff in there. I went and got my other stuff from the shops. I paid 200 galleons for all of the clothes I got at Madame Malkin's, at the Quidditch shop I paid 25g for the robes and a book called _Quidditch through the ages: A self-updating guide_, At Ollivandar I insistently paid 8g for the wand. I went back to my other stuff and started packing it all. I got to my instruments and started thinking of how I would play the electric ones at Hogwarts. I put them in the tech lab for now, along with my inventions. I changed into an outfit a cousin got me. Some black jeans, a purple long-sleeved shirt, Black moccasin imitation boots, and a black hoodie-vest. I shrunk my trunk with a tap of my wand. I tossed my wand into the air and caugh short-gladius. The sword was Greek, it was about 3 feet long, the handle was wrapped in very expensive Italian leather, and the blade looked to be glowing silver. Once all of my other stuff was completely gone through and put away I changed my sword back into a wand and put it in my dragon hide wand holster. With my trunk in my hand I went down to dad and we used the fire place and used floo powder to travel to his Hogwarts living quarters. There we stayed for a week. He let me practice magic, he taught me how to play Quidditch, and he got professor Snape to teach me potions (Snape only agreed to teach after the first time I had him watch me brew a 7th year potion that was almost perfect. He said, and I quote, "well she's not as incompetent as her father. I will teach her as long as she listens to what I say instead of drawing on a piece of parchment.).

Another thing I did was practice with my sword. As it turned out I was a natural with a sword and with hunting weapon's. I found an old training room in the castle and used it every spare moment I got. I also made a map of all the places in the castle I found. Finally on the 5th day of my stay I was celebrating because Snape said I was almost up to his 4th year potions standard. So I decided to explore the castle. Somehow I ended up in the second floor ladies room. This particular bathroom was haunted by a ghost called moaning Myrtle. I sat down and we talked about death. "So" I got up the courage to ask her" I was wondering would you be willing to tell me how you died?" she looked at me with a smile and said "I thought you would never ask me". So she told me about her being bullied, Hiding in the bathroom, hearing a strange boy voice, seeing big yellow eyes, freezing up, then floating away. I went to the sink she pointed at. There was an inscription of a snake on the faucet. I thought about what she said about Hissing, Giant yellow eyes, and then death. My eye's widened and I ran telling myrtle I would be back. I ran to the great hall ware lunch was happening. I burst through the doors and said "I FOUND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS! QUICK FOLLOW ME!" Professor Dumbledore stood and ran up. "Lead the way Miss Black.". So I lead him to Myrtle's bathroom. Before I tried to open it I warned him "sir I think the monster down there is a basilisk. You know the king of snakes." He nodded and summand a snake. "_Stupid humans always ruining my peace and quiet can never have a simple afternoon._" I heard a hissing voice say and laughed. I looked at it and said "_Sorry to disturb you. I'll have him send you back._" I looked up and said" professor, can you send him back? I think I got this under control and I don't the wizarding world want you to do anything illegal." He nodded and did as suggested. I turned to the sink and said in parseltongue" _open for me, the heir of Slytherin._" Then the sink moved to reveal a large pipe.

I pulled out my wand, pointed it at the entrance and said" scorgify maximum" and waited as the tunnel was cleaned by the spell. When it was done I turned back to Dumbledore and said" After you Professor." He stepped forward and tried to slide down but was stopped by an invisible wall I stepped forward and hung my legs in the tunnel and said" don't worry professor I'll be safe." I waved my wand and summoned my firebolt. Before anything else could be said I dropped down the tunnel. One way to describe the tunnel is long. At the Bottom of the tunnel I light up my wand and went through another tunnel. I heard something move and on instinct I changed my wand into a sword. The movement turned out to be a rat but that's not as important as what was happening with my sword. The _lumos_ spell I did with my wand was still active in sword form. The blade of my sword was glowing brightly. I canceled the spell and the blade went dark. I continued through the tunnels until I came to the main hall. I went up to the statue of Salazar Slytherin and said "_speak to me Slytherin, greatest of the founders four_" and the statue opened its mouth. From out of its mouth came a giant snake. I was right about the basilisk. When it saw me it lunged forward. I rolled out of the way to avoid its mouth then stabbed at ware I guessed the eyes were. I guessed right because I had to wipe eye gunk off of my sword. When I got the second eye I tore a piece of cloth I had, wiped my sword off, and put my sword away. When it opened its mouth to roar again I pulled out my bow and shot the roof of its mouth. The arrows were too small and only angered it. Then I remembered something that made me smack my forehead at my stupidity. _The cry of the rooster is fatal to it_. I pulled out my wand and pointed it at a rock. I transfigured my rock into a rooster then sent a stinging jinx at it. The rooster crowed and the basilisk wailed loudly. The thing fell to the ground dead. I got rid of the bird and walked over to the snake. I pulled out a quill and a piece of parchment. On it I wrote:

_To: my mum_

_ I did this for you hope to see you soon._

_Love From: Serena Black_

Then I pinned the note to the snake and I said out loud "I, Serena Black, offer this basilisk to my mother whoever she may be." The basilisk disappeared, I hoped she got it.

~~meanwhile~~

**Artemis P.O.V.**

I watched as the 3 hell hounds sauntered forward to kill my huntress' Anna Sage, Lola Hilling, and Lily Slate. I ran and was about to shoot an arrow when a 80 foot long basilisk body fell from no ware and turned the wild demon dogs to dust. Luckily it missed me and the hunters. I saw a note and instantly knew what was going on. I had the girls go back to the camp careful not to let them see the note then stepped up to read it. Tears came to my eyes after I read the short note. My only child killed a three hundred year old Basilisk for me. To most it would be a strange thing, terrifying even. I wanted to see her too. Not even Zeus knew how much I missed the little girl I only held for 10 minutes before I was forced to leave her (although Zeus didn't know she existed!). I sent the basilisk to a place I could temporarily keep it safe from scavengers. With the note from my daughter in my pocket I went to my camp. I told my lieutenant, Zoë Nightshade, I was going to talk to Zeus on Olympus then flashed away.

Sadly Zeus wasn't alone in the throne room so I had to tell the whole council about my daughter as Zeus had to keep an eye on the others (more like instigate the problems and have Hera stop it). I stood in the middle of the room waiting for the shouting to stop so I could tell them. After 10 minutes of trying to get their attention my normally quiet aunt Hestia, sensed my nervousness. She stood, took a deep breath, and shouted" **everyone shut up!**" the looks everyone gave her caused my nerves to go over the edge and I burst out laughing for the first time in 11 years (Sirius was so funny). The looks went over to me and increased which only made me laugh more. Finally I calmed down and Hestia said" you needed to say something Artemis?" I nodded and straightened up. I looked at Zeus and said" Father, you remember I took my maiden oath after Orion died correct?" He nodded. I took a breath then continued" well, If you saw Apollo's face, you would see he had his "**liar alert**" face on. I didn't actually say _I swear of the company of all men_ I said _I swear of the company of all majorly arrogant men_. I waited centuries for the perfect man to return. Finally 11 years ago I found Orion's rebirth. He is now known as Sirius Orion Black, A wizard descendent of Hecate. At first I thought He was like all other men until he said I looked familiar. I dated him for a few months before the unexpected happened. I got pregnant. I panicked and hid from everyone until she was born. My daughter, Serena Dorea Black was born on July 30th ten years ago." I waited as everyone started shouting again. Finally Zeus said" why not explain this before Artemis?" everyone's eyes were back on me." Because she knows I'm not mortal. She sent me an 80 foot basilisk with a note saying she killed it for me. I wanted permission to go to England to get her. I have to go kill a group of wild hell hounds there anyway." He and the other's huddled up and whispered not even thinking about mind speaking (except for Athena who couldn't forget anything). A few minutes later everyone returned to their thrones and a vote took place (without me of course). "All in favor of –"I raised my hands and said "Hold on! Hades needs to be here. It's only fair since Hestia is here." Zeus nodded slowly and summoned the lord of the underworld. Today was the most bazaar day of my immortal life and I could not have been happier. I did not want anyone to be left out. When Hades appeared and the situation was explained he stood in shock for a while.

When he came out of his frozen state it wasn't of Serena as I thought the first words out of his mouth were "You requested I be part of an important matter like this?" I nodded. "Thank you, Artemis, for allowing me a small offer of kindness from someone other than Hestia who was literally born saying I love you." "You're welcome?" Zeus cleared his through and said "now all in favor of letting Artemis retrieve the girl raise your hand." All but three hands went up. "All opposed?" only Dionysus raised his hand. Apparently he didn't want another demigod to look after. I turned to him and said "you know, Dionysus, when you were sent to the camp they you told to make sure they don't kill each other and to be nice. I am warning you to try to be a good instructor for her or else. If it makes you feel better you can think of it as repaying me for saving your leopard." Dionysus nodded and said "I swear on the river Styx I will try to be better as camp director. After all, it's not every 100 years you get grounded and end up seeing the sons you wouldn't be allowed to see otherwise." After staring at him for a few I said "well, I am leaving before this gets weirder. For all I know Ares is going to start singing" I was cut off by Ares.

_"I'm a Barbie girl, In a Barbie world._

_It's so fantastic, made of plastic._

**_Come on Barbie, let's go party!"_**

I stared at him for 10 whole minutes before saying "Never mind. I have to go. And let's not ever speak of this again, agreed?" everyone gave me shocked slightly terrified (except for Aphrodite who was smiling) nod's. I left as fast as I could after that, which was pretty fast. I went and got the hunters packed then we headed out. It would take this group two days to get there without me. Luckily I was going with so it only took us 3 hours to get to England. Since Serena was at Hogwarts and the hell hounds were in the forest we were in no hurry. We went through the forest and only killed when attacked. What I didn't know was that Serena sensed I was there.

**A/N So diagon ally was decent and Gringotts was surprising and unexpected. Harry never found the chamber. Percy was possessed by Voldemort and had gone around cursing people. Harry did get the Diary and stabbed it with the sword of Gryffindor. And I would like to apologize for the mental scaring done by Ares singing. I will probably do much worse later. Please review**


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Motorcycles and Camp Half-blood

**Serena's P.O.V**

The day before I left for the United States was crazy. First Dad takes me to see the new twilight movie, Eclipse. When he sees Jacob's motorcycle he gets a look I found out meant he has an idea. After the movie he took me to an auto shop where he bought me one exactly like Jake's he has me pick out a helmet then we go back to Hogwarts. There he has me look through an enchantment book and make a list of ones I like while he completely takes the bike apart. While I did this I felt a strange feeling of warmth come over me. Somehow I knew that my mother was in England and not too far from me. I decided to go for a walk I picked up the book and went out. I don't know why exactly I ended up in an empty clearing in the middle of the forbidden forest but that's where I was. I sensed something nearby and grabbed on to my necklace. I said the password. Instantly I was surrounded by huge black dogs. I pulled out my bow and notched an arrow. I waited until I was attacked then sprang into action. I shot 12 out of 20 before I got tired. I pulled out 4 arrows, took down four dogs, dropped the bow, pulled out my sword and hit all the rest with a powerful Reducto curse. Then before I could understand what was happening I had about 50 arrows pointed at me. On instinct I bent my knees, jumped up and grabbed a low branch.

Before I did anything else a girl about 12 years old stepped forward and said" lower your weapons, she's the special half-blood we are looking for." When I saw I was in no danger I deactivated my armor and dropped down. The girl looked at me and said" are you Serena Black?" I nodded" will you please take me to your dad?" I nodded again and walked away from them. I led them to the edge of the forest. I turned to them and said" it would be better if only a few of you came. It would look weird if I led a group of about 50 girls through the castle." The 12 year old girl nodded told 6 of the girls to come with us and the others to go back to their camp. Up with dad I told him what happened and introduced him to the girls I met. I sat on the couch and went back to my spell book. The spells I chose were a shrinking charm so I could keep it in my pocket, a magic impervious charm for obvious reasons, a protection spell so it wouldn't break, and a magical extension charm. I gave dad the list and went to my room. In there I sat with two wolf cubs on my lap. Dad came in and saw this. He smiled at my resemblance of my mother. "Serena, your motorcycle is done. Why we take it outside." I nodded and led both animals out. Dad held out a little toy like motorcycle and I took it. Out on the trail to hogsmead I set it on the ground and tapped it with my wand. When it was full sized I got on. I realized it wasn't to different the dirt bikes I road when I was little. As dad told me about how it worked I got bored I told him I rode before, I put on the black dirt bike helmet with a green and silver dragon on it that I chose and started the engine. I laughed at the startled look on his face and took off. When I was use to the bike I tested it. I sped up on a jump and took to the air. I did a flip landed and returned to my dad. I put my bike away and went to my little cubs. I fed them and gave them bathes. I scooped up both of the cubs and put them in my huge bed with me and we all fell asleep snuggled together to keep warm.

The next morning dad and I spent the day either playing 1 on 1 Quidditch or playing on my Xbox. Before we went to bed he helped me pack. The last thing to go in was the broom I would need for school. When morning came around I found it harder than I thought to leave. I was finally on my way to New York. At the rate we were going we would get there in about two days. The first thing we did when we got to the forest in long island was set up camp. When I pitched my new tent from dad I realized the outside looked like the same silver fabric as theirs with the difference of the forest like design on mine. I let Shadow and Midnight out of the animal transport section of my trunk and we went to the fire someone made. When the leader girl I found was named Artemis said that we were going to camp half-blood most of the other girls groaned in annoyance. For dinner we had steak and salad then the huntress's showed me their temporary archery range at first they seemed unsure of me but when they saw me playing with their wolves like I have been there for a while the group of girls relaxed. I felt like I was almost at home. Like them I shot arrows perfectly, through knives perfectly, and was rather proficient with a sword. I showed them that I could do magic and my sword acted as a wand. When it was time to go to bed we were as close as sisters. As I was falling asleep I remember having a bad feeling about the next day. I woke up the next morning before the sun even rose, got dressed in an outfit Aunt Anna got me two weeks ago, and packed up my tent. I convinced both of my animal friends to go back into my trunk then I shrunk it down and put it in my pocket. When the hunter's and Artemis woke up we ate then I watched them pack up their stuff. Not even the remains of the camp fire were there. As we walked through the forest the wolves started to growl. Out of no ware a big Cyclopes appeared. I aimed an arrow and shot at it but it moved. I tried again but it took my bow and snapped it. He then tossed it into the trees and came forward. I was beyond angry. I looked at it and yelled "**THAT WAS A BIRTHDAY PRESENT YOU FAT ONE EYED FREAK!**" I pulled out my sword and ran forward. I slashed, twirled, stabbed, and sent spells. Finally the monster was on its back. I held the tip of my sword a foot from his face and said "Reducto" instead of head pieces going every ware there was dust.

Artemis was looking at me with a contemplating look. I looked at the incredulous looks from the huntresses and said "what!? I wanted that bow ever since I was six. I only had it for 9 days and now it's gone." We decided to move on. After about 15 minutes we reached the tree line. We stepped out onto the hill. One of the girls blew an old hunting horn and the whole horde of people came to see the hunt. Artemis showed me to the big house and introduced me to Chiron and Mr. D. I watched there orientation video they had. The girl showing me around, Silena Beauregard daughter of Aphrodite, told me about the different activities at the summer camp for almost immortal people. I was especially interested in the capture the flag, archery class, sword fighting class, and astronomy (which was inactive do to need of a better instructor). After a while she stopped me in front of a tool shed. She led me inside and explained to me that instead of using it for tools they used the shed for weapons. I picked up a bow and decided to use it until I got one that suited me. On the way to the cabins Silena told me about some of the current hero's that go here. She told me about Percy Jackson son of Poseidon, Annabeth Chase daughter of Athena, Thalia Grace Daughter of Zeus (don't use her last name unless you want to be electrocuted), and many others. The one she spoke the most about was a son of Hephaestus named Charles Beckendorf. Even the stupidest kid in that entire camp knew they had feelings for each other. I asked ware Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia was when she told me that they were on a quest. She told me they went to help a satyr friend of theirs bring a pair of powerful demi-gods here to camp. Finally we stopped at cabin 11. Inside were 50 or so boys and girls. When they saw us one yelled "Hermes or undetermined? " Silena replied "undetermined" And got a cabin full of frustrated groans. I said I was going to look around more and went to find Chiron. I found him still at the big house with Mr. D. "Hey Chiron, Mr. D, can I ask you something?" "Of course, Child" "I don't want to sound ungrateful or offend anyone, but #11 is rather full in the cabin. And I have a magical tent with room for 20 others so I can share." Dionysus looked thoughtful then said "I'll be back later. I'm going to talk to Zeus and Hermes. See yah brat" and he flashed away. Five minutes later the lunch horn sounded and we went to the dinning pavilion. After lunch were I was introduced to the camp formally and shown how to sacrifice best pieces of the food to my immortal parent whomever she may be I went with Chiron to meet Mr. D for an answer.

At the big house Mr. D held out a looked at me and said "They agreed, but they suggest you make whomever you allow to stay swear on the river Styx not to mess with anyone or anything other than themselves and their own positions as long as they stay." I nodded and went to back the Hermes cabin. I went inside the cabin, pulled out and enlarged my trunk, and opened the animal transport unit and let all three of my young companions out then opened the normal compartment and pulled out my tent. I put my trunk back into my pocket and led two wolves out and as if it were practiced we set up the tent together. When the Hermes cabin got back from their training I asked 20 of the unclaimed to step forward. When they did I explained why and had them swear" I swear on the river Styx to keep my hands to myself and only use others' things with permission and to return them to the owner when I'm done while inside this tent" In the tent I had 11 bedrooms (including mine), 4 bathrooms (not including the one connected to my room), and 4 other different rooms. The 4 other rooms I had set up as a living room, a library/study, an armory for spare armor, and a room for me to practice magic. I finished getting people settled in then went to have another look around. Apparently Artemis went to help Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, and Grover get some kid's named Bianca and Nico Di Angelo from a boarding school in Maine called West Carvel Hall so my wolves were the only ones here at the moment. As I only had two hours until dinner I went to see the climbing wall. I said to the person at the controls "I want to go up." He decided I should take it easy and put it on beginner. I made it to the top without any problems. So he made it harder, and we went from there. I got to the lava before starting to have difficulties. I was nearly burned alive 6 times before calling it a day. Finally it was dinner time. While eating the campers shared stories of monsters they killed. When it was my turn I told I got medusa, the basilisk, the hell hounds, and the Cyclopes I previously killed all within two weeks. I wasn't planning to talk so much but by the time I finished everyone was staring at me. "Than" I told them "He destroyed my bow and I got mad. I wanted it since I was five, I finally got it nine days ago then poof, and it was gone. I screamed something at the monster then destroyed him." A girl from the Ares table I recognized from my tour as Clarisse La Rue asked "what did you scream at him" I blushed and said "**ότι ήταν ένα δώρο γενεθλίων που το λίπος ένα μάτιτέρας**" not even realizing I was speaking in Greek. I waited as what I said sank in then Clarisse burst into laughter followed. Even Mr. D who seemed a bit distant from the campers was laughing at what I said. The loud rolling of thunder sounded like many laughing voices.

After dinner we went to the camp fire were we sang, had s'mores, told ghost stories (which I won having met and talked to Sir Nickolas Di Mimsy-Porpington A.K.A Nearly- Headless Nick who was chopped in the neck 45 times with a blunt axe and still wasn't completely headless, and the bloody baron who killed himself for killing his love Helena Ravenclaw A.K.A the grey lady), and asked questions. Finally Chiron stepped forward and announced bed time. All the campers there begged if I could tell another story and Mr. D said "Why not. She is an excellent story teller." I turned to him and said "And the sad part is all of them are true. Including the one I am about to tell you. This is the story of a small family by the last name of Riddle. This all started 67 years ago when a baby was born. He was born in an orphanage that would be his prison for 11 years. Not even five minutes after his birth the boy's mother died but not before naming him Tom after his father, Marvolo after her father, and his father's sir name Riddle. Tom M. Riddle grew to be feared by the other orphans do to a man telling them he was dangerous. Then when he was 11 the man came to him. The man wasn't related to Tom but came to offer him a place in a school. Not just any old school, Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry. Tom happily accepted and went to get his supplies. At Hogwarts Tom was sorted into the house with the worst reputation of producing dark wizards, Slytherin. For 7 years Tom worked hard to give himself a good Image. To many he was Tom Riddle Mr. Goodie-two-shoes, but to his acquaintances he was he is lord Voldemort. He didn't technically change his name. In fact if you take his full name _Tom Marvolo Riddle_ and change the letter's around it spells _I Am Lord Voldemort_. His 4th year he found he was the heir of Salazar Slytherin, his 5th year Dumbledore tricked him into opened the chamber of secrets and had the basilisk kill a second year muggle-born, his 6th year was what sealed his fate. He killed his father and his Grandparents at Riddle manor and about 2 miles he killed his mother's brother Morfin. Then he takes his uncles ring and puts a piece of his soul in it. This piece of dark magic is called a horcrux. When he was 36 a prophecy was made. By that time he was known as he-who-must-not-be-named.

The prophecy went like this: _The one with the power to vanquish the true dark lord approaches…born to those who thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… but he shall have the power the true dark lord knows not… and the false dark lord shall mark him as his equal… and either must die at the others hand, for neither can live while the other survives… the one with the power to vanquish the dark lord will be born as the seventh month dies…_ Voldemort only heard part of this prophecy. Not too long after the prophecy was made two boys were born at the end of July. Neville Longbottom on July 30th 11:57A.M and Harry Potter on July 31st 12:07A.M. A year later a week before Halloween the two families went into hiding. The safe houses were protected with a fidelis charm. Only two people could give out that kind of information, Albus Dumbledore (for the Longbottom's) and Peter Pettigrew (for the Potter's). Dumbledore knew there was a spy in their midst and who it was. It was October 31st that year when Voldemort showed up at the Potters house. Luckily the Potters weren't killed but the same could not technically be said for Voldemort. Mr. James Potter and Mrs. Lily Potter had to leave that night and left James's sister Serena (my name sake) in charge of Harry. What basically happened was when Voldemort showed up Serena Potter ran up to the nursery put Harry in a crib and said a spell that activated a ritual that allowed Harry to temporarily use her power to get rid of Voldemort. By this time Voldemort had five hocruxes. Voldemort killed Serena and turned to Harry. He tried and failed to kill Harry. The only thing he succeeded in doing was accidentally turning Harry into a horcrux. To this day Harry lives with a piece of Voldemort soul stuck in his head." The campers shivered at the thought of having a soul piece in your head as they went off to bed. I knew that the next day would be strange but I would make it work. After all I was a demigod and that is what we apparently do, improvise.

**A/N: So opinions anyone? Don't forget to review**


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Fist Quest

I woke up at 4:30a.m a week later. So far I liked camp half-blood. While I went through my daily routine, Silena (who I became friends with) tried to think of who my mother was. She said it might be Athena because I was smart, Hecate because of my magic, or Nemesis for an obvious reason. She tried to tell me my mum was Aphrodite but I told her it wasn't a possibility because of rule 3 that went against Aphrodite's domain of love. I went out with Shadow and Midnight, and we jogged around camp an hour then I went to Zeus's fist (a pile of boulders that sometimes looks like a fist) and waited to watch the moon go down and the sun come up. At about 6:00a.m the early rising campers started to wake and the sun finally started to come up. I looked 'is the sun coming closer?' my eyes widen and I turned away and heard a big** _sploosh_** as Apollo's sun chariot crash landed in the canoe lake, In the form of a bus. I ran over to the lake and started pulling naiads and melted canoes out of the water. As I helped a naiad heal some burns a very powerful someone came up behind me and asked "are you Serena Black?" I turned to him and nodded to him slowly. He held out a small box and letter and said "your mother said to give this to you." I took it. Instead of opening it I shoved it into my pocket thanked him and ran over to the huntress's who were grouped together. After greeting my friends I turned to Zoe and a new girl and asked "who's this?" "This is Bianca di Angelo, our newest huntress." I said hello then asked Zoe "Do you think we can convince Chiron to let me be on your team for capture the flag. I think I would be more comfortable." "Maybe, but first we need to get settled in." while they went to the Artemis cabin I went to my room in my tent and opened the letter from my mum. It said:

_Dear Serena,_

_Tap the box with the tip of your sword. I'll claim you very soon, capture the hunters' flag. It does them all good to loose once in a while. Use my gifts often._

_Love, mum_

I put the box on my bed and did as instructed. Inside was a beautiful folding bow (like Hawkeye's from the avengers) made out of moon steel, it was the same with the arrow heads. There was also a Black and silver-trimmed basilisk skin (**A/N:** basilisk skin is harder in this) jacket and some basilisk skin pants (both lined with leather so I was not harmed by the scales), some magical sunglasses that I could look into even basilisk eyes and survive (they are also heat censored so I can see my enemies' body heat), and a watch that spiraled into a round shield. I put them away so no one saw as I was now 100% sure my mother was Artemis as my bow, the arrows, my sword (which I'm positive she sent to Ollivandar's), and my shield were all moon steel and the dragon skin was silver-trimmed which is Artemis's color. Also when reading about the Greek myths I always read about Artemis only as she was my favorite. Later that night after dinner we were all told to prepare for capture the flag instead of putting on armor I went to stand with the campers (I told Zoe I wanted to even out the odds a bit). When they told me I would need armor I told them I had it covered. Once we were all set we waited for the horn. I looked at Silena, Percy, and Thalia and said "did you know wizards' chess had live chess men?" Before they could reply the horn sounded. I ran into the trees making sure to dissolution myself as I did. I ran to the flag dodging the hunters and got there fast. I took the charm off and stepped into an obvious trap as the flag appeared unprotected sure enough as soon as I took another step to it the hunters ambushed me. I activated my armor and watch and fought my way to the flag. When I had it in my hand I took off dodging slashing and blocking. I felt untouchable to all. At the stream Zoe appeared blocking my path. With the flag in my left hand and my sword in the right I fought hard keeping the flag just out of reach. She disarmed me but I now had my back to the stream I did a back flip and summoned my sword at the same time I landed on the other side, turned and ran. My sword and armor now put away I ran holding the flag proudly above my head.

I made it back and grinned as the campers cheered loudly into the night. All that stopped when they saw a gleaming light above my head. The Olympians including Artemis in the form of a 28 year old woman appeared as I looked up at it, Artemis claimed me. I looked over as Zeus boomed out "all hail Serena Black, daughter Artemis the goddess of the moon and the hunt." I saw Artemis had tears in her eyes and I knew she was happy that I was known as her daughter but was sad she couldn't contact me do to the laws; I was so happy. I jumped forward and hugged her. At first she was shocked then she returned it. Zeus cleared his through and said "Artemis, the Laws." I let go, turned to him and said "with all due respect sir, the laws say a godly parent cannot contact their demi-god children not a demi-god child cannot contact their godly parent. If that was the case we wouldn't be able to prey or sacrifice things to said godly parent." And with that I gave her another hug. I let go turned to Chiron and said "the campers can use my tent until their claimed." I told them good night then went to move into mum's cabin. A few minutes later I was sitting on a couch when the hunters came in. I looked at Zoe and nervously asked "um… w-which bed c-can I-I u-use?" Zoe looked at the other hunters smiled and said "Do not be nervous Serena. If the Olympians accept thou then so can we. Thou may stay in the cabin leader room; Milady had us stop using it around ten years ago. I assume she wanted it to be yours." I nodded thanked her and dragged my trunk away Shadow and Midnight following me. In my new room I first pulled out my new guitar and my microphone. I set them up in a corner then turned to the empty book cases. I pulled out my books and put them on there. I turned to the empty entertainment center and magically set up the TV with surround sound (A/N It sounds awesome!). I turned it on and watched some news. After a while I got bored and turned it off. I lay down and went to sleep once again not prepared for the next day.

I went to the dinning pavilion the next morning and was greeted with stares from the campers. I stepped towards the Hermes table out of habit but Zoe stood and pulled me to the Artemis table, thankfully. We all did an offering and started eating. Half way through eating something amazingly scary happened; the oracle paid us a visit! It looked at the Artemis table and walked forward. It stood looked straight at me and Zoe and said: "**_six shall go west to the goddess in chains… one shall be lost in the land without rain… the bane of Olympus shows the trail… campers, hunters and the moon child combined prevail. The titan's curse one must withstand… and one shall parish at a parent's hand. _**The mummy then sat on the ground as if she had been there for thousands of years. I pulled out my sword (I tended to keep it in sword form around camp) and levitated her back up to the attic. Once she was back on her stool I went down to the meeting room and sat with Zoe and Bianca. (I was the only child of Artemis which meant technically I was the cabin leader. But I decided to let Zoe be in charge until the hunters left). We all looked over as Chiron started to speak. "We must decide who goes on the quest." Zoe stood and said "I will take Phoebe and Bianca for sure." Thalia and Grover also were going. Percy also wanted to go because Annabeth was also captured but I cut him off "No! I have to go." Everyone especially Percy started to protest but I said "the prophecy said the campers, hunters, _and the moon child_ combined prevail. So unless there's another child of Artemis or there's a werewolf (which I seriously doubt) I have to go. Also what want to know which goddess is in chains and wares Mr. D?" just then Dionysus appeared and said "Artemis was kidnapped last night after she left here."

My eyes widened and I start banging my head on the table. Zoe whispered to me "it is not your fault. Trust me" I nodded then left to pack a bag. I pulled out a hiking back-pack (with an undetectable extension charm on it) and started putting important things in it. I put in three extra shirts, three boxes of granola bars (the large boxes with 45 bars each), my laptop, some water bottles, a six pack of Pepsi (for emergencies ;p), an extra blanket, and a few other things. I was dressed in my dragon skin jacket and pants. I strapped my bow on then slung my backpack over it, I had my wand in a holster, and my watch on my wrist. I had the hunters keep an eye on Shadow and Midnight for me. I shrunk my motorcycle and put it in my jacket pocket. I stepped out of my room and was met by Bianca. We waited for Zoe at the hill. Phoebe was the victim of a bad prank and could not come. Zoe went to tell Chiron and we (Bianca and I) waited for her on the hill. Five minutes later Thalia and Grover joined us followed by an angry Zoe and Chiron who was flicking his tail in irritation. He wished us farewell and told me he wished Percy could come. Then we were of in a camp van. I watched out the back window as we wound through New York. I knew Percy was following us on blackjack. I also knew camp was not the land without rain mentioned in the prophecy. As I thought that I looked around knowing two of us are going to die. As we drove I got bored. I pulled out my lap top and started typing in my digital diary. Zoe was listening to music that was putting every ADHD kid in hear to sleep on the radio. After just about everyone but Zoe was asleep I got annoyed. I raised my wand and changed the station to the wolf. It was country music and three of my current companions haven't heard of the songs they thought it was currently better than Mozart. **(A/N: I don't mind Mozart when I am trying to sleep but when I have things to do I can't listen to it or any related music.)** After Zoe fought with the radio I said "let's turn the radio off" Before she could kill it. I put my laptop away and leaned back. Finally we stopped for a break. Grover did a tracking spell, we had doughnuts and hot chocolate, and we were off again. I don't know when I fell asleep but I know we were outside the Smithsonian museum when I woke up. They all wanted to go in and I would have followed had I not seen blackjack fly away without Percy. I looked at wear he was looking and I saw the man they had described as Dr. Thorn enters the closed museum of natural history. Percy put on a Yankees cap a disappeared. I told the others I would catch up with them later and disillusioned myself while grabbing my backpack. I then took off after Percy.

I listened to what was happening through the door I saw close. "Well?" asked one man. His voice was not as creepy as Kronos's, but deeper and stronger, like the earth itself was talking. It filled the whole room even though he wasn't yelling. Dr. Thorn took off his shades. His two-colored eyes, brown and blue, glittered with excitement. He made a stiff bow, then spoke in his weird French accent: "They are here, General." "I know that, you fool," boomed the man "But where?" "In the rocket museum" "The Air and Space Museum," someone- I guessed Luke corrected irritably. Dr. Thorn glared at Luke. "As you say, sir" I got the feeling Thorn would just as soon impale Luke with one of his spikes as call him sir "How many?" Luke asked. Thorn pretended not to hear. "How many?" the General demanded. "Four, General," Thorn said. "The satyr, Grover Underwood, and the girl with the spiky black hair and the—how do you say—punk clothes and the horrible shield." "Thalia," Luke said "And two other girls—Hunters. One wears a silver circlet." "That one I know," the General growled. I heard everyone in the room shifted uncomfortably. "Let me take them," Luke said to the General. "We have more than enough—" "Patience," the General said. "They'll have their hands full already. I've sent a little playmate to keep them occupied." "But—" "We cannot risk you, my boy." "Yes, boy," Dr. Thorn said with a cruel smile. "You are much too fragile to risk. Let me finish them off." "No." I heard The General rise from his chair. "You have already failed me, Thorn," he said "But, General—" "No excuses!" I'd thought Thorn was scary when I first heard of him in his black uniform at the military academy. But now, standing before the General, Thorn sounded like a silly wannabe soldier. The General was the real deal. He didn't need a uniform. He was a born commander. "I should throw you into the pits of Tartarus for your incompetence," the General said. "I send you to capture a child of the three elder gods, and you bring me a scrawny daughter of Athena." "But you promised me revenge.'" Thorn protested "A command of my own!" "I am Lord Kronos's senior commander," the General said. "And I will choose lieutenants who get me results! It was only thanks to Luke that we salvaged our plan at all. Now get out of my sight, Thorn, until I find some other menial task for you."

Thorn made angry noises. I thought he was going to start frothing at the mouth or shooting spines, but he just left the room making it possible for me to enter unnoticed. "Now, my boy" The General turned to Luke. "The first thing we must do is isolate the half-blood Thalia. The monster we seek will then come to her." "The Hunters will be difficult to dispose of," Luke said. "Zoe Nightshade—" "Do not speak her name!" Luke swallowed. "S—sorry, General, I just—"The General silenced him with a wave of his hand. "Let me show you, my boy, how we will bring the Hunters down." "Do you have the teeth?" one guy stumbled forward. "Yes, General" "Plant them," He said. I watched nervously as the guard took sharp white teeth out of the pot and pushed them into the soil. He smoothed them over while the General smiled coldly. The guard stepped back from the dirt and wiped his hands. "Ready, General!" "Excellent! Water them, and we will let them scent their prey." The guard picked up a little tin watering can with daisies painted on it, which was kind of bizarre, because what he poured out wasn't water. It was dark red liquid, and I got the feeling it wasn't Hawaiian Punch. The soil began to bubble. "Soon," the General said, "I will show you, Luke, soldiers that will make your army from that little boat look insignificant." Luke clenched his fists. "I've spent a year training my forces! When the Princess Andromeda arrives at the mountain, they'll be the best—" "Ha.'" the General said. "I don't deny your troops will make a fine honor guard for Lord Kronos. And you, of course, will have a role to play—" I thought Luke turned paler when the General said that. "—but under my leadership, the forces of Lord Kronos will increase a hundredfold. We will be unstoppable. Behold my ultimate killing machines." The soil erupted. I stepped back nervously. In each spot where a tooth had been planted, a creature was struggling out of the dirt. The first of them said: "Mew?" It was a kitten, a little orange tabby with stripes like a tiger. Then another appeared, until there were a dozen, rolling around and playing in the dirt. Everyone stared at them in disbelief. The General roared, "What is this- Cute and cuddly kittens? Where did you find those teeth?" The guard who'd brought the teeth cowered in fear. "From the exhibit, sir, just like you said; the saber-toothed tiger—" "No, you idiot! I said the tyrannosaurus! Gather up those… those infernal fuzzy little beasts and take them outside. And never let me see your face again." The terrified guard dropped his watering can. He gathered up the kittens and scampered out of the room. "You!" The General pointed to another guard. "Get me the right teeth, NOW!"

The new guard ran off to carry out his orders. "Imbeciles,' muttered the General." This is why I don't use mortals," Luke said. "They are unreliable." "They are weak-minded, easily bought, and violent," the General said. "I love them." A minute later, the guard hustled into the room with his hands full of large pointy teeth. "Excellent," the General said. He climbed onto the balcony railing and jumped down, twenty feet. Where he landed, the marble floor cracked under his leather shoes. He stood, wincing, and rubbed his shoulders. "Curse my stiff neck." "Another hot pad, sir?" a guard asked "More Tylenol?" "No! It will pass." The General brushed off his silk suit, and then snatched up the teeth. "I shall do this myself." He held up one of the teeth and smiled "Dinosaur teeth—ha! Those foolish mortals don't even know when they have dragon teeth in their possession, and not just any dragon teeth. These come from the ancient Sybaris herself! They shall do nicely." He planted them in the dirt, twelve in all. Then he scooped up the watering can. He sprinkled the soil with red liquid, tossed the can away, and held his arms out wide. Rise! The dirt trembled. A single, skeletal hand shot out of the ground, grasping at the air. The General looked up at the balcony. "Quickly, do you have the scent?" "Yesssss, lord," one of the snake ladies said. She took out a sash of silvery fabric, like the kind the Hunters wore. "Excellent," the General said. "Once my warriors catch its scent, they will pursue its owner relentlessly. Nothing can stop them, no weapons known to half-blood or Hunter. They will tear the Hunters and their allies to shreds. Toss it here!" As he said that, skeletons erupted from the ground. There were twelve of them, one for each tooth the General had planted. They were nothing like Halloween skeletons, or the kind you might see in cheesy movies. These were growing flesh as I watched, turning into men, but men with dull gray skin, yellow eyes, and modern clothes—gray muscle shirts, cameo pants, and combat boots. If you didn't look too closely, you could almost believe they were human, but their flesh was transparent and their bones shimmered underneath, like X-ray images. One of them looked straight at me, regarding me coldly, and I knew that no invisibility spell would fool it. The snake lady released the scarf and it fluttered down toward the General's hand. As soon as he gave it to the warriors, they would hunt Zoe and the others until they were extinct. I didn't have time to stop him. Percy ran forward and jumped with all his might, plowing into the warriors and snatching the scarf out of the air. "What's this?" bellowed the General. I landed at the feet of a skeleton warrior, who hissed. "An intruder," the General growled. "One cloaked in darkness. Seal the doors!" "It's Percy Jackson!" Luke yelled. "It has to be."

I sprinted for the exit, but heard a ripping sound and realized the skeleton warrior had taken a chunk out of Percy's sleeve. When I glanced back, he was holding the fabric up to his nose, sniffing the scent, handing it around to his friends. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't. I squeezed through the door just as the guards slammed it shut behind us. I took the spell off of me just as Percy took off Annabeth's hat. Without a word we ran to Air and Space Museum. The main part of the museum was one huge room with rockets and airplanes hanging from the ceiling. Three levels of balconies curled around, so you could look at the exhibits from all different heights. The place wasn't crowded, just a few families and a couple of tour groups of kids, probably doing one of those holiday school trips. I wanted to yell at them all to leave, but I figured that would only get me arrested. We had to find Thalia and Grover and the Hunters. Any minute, the skeleton dudes were going to invade the museum, and I didn't think they would settle for an audio tour. Percy ran into Thalia—literally. We were barreling up the ramp to the top-floor balcony and he slammed into her, knocking her into an Apollo space capsule. Grover yelped in surprise and kicked me in the leg for no apparent reason. Before I could regain my balance, Zoe and Bianca had arrows notched, aimed at his chest. Their bows had just appeared out of nowhere. When Zoe realized who he was, she didn't seem anxious to lower her bow. "You! How dare you show thy face here?" "Percy!" Grover said. "Thank goodness." Zoe glared at him, and he blushed. "I mean, um, gosh. You're not supposed to be here!" "Luke," I said, trying to catch my breath. "He's here." The anger in Thalia's eyes immediately melted. She put her hand on her silver bracelet. "Where?" I told them about the Natural History Museum, Dr. Thorn, Luke, and the General.

"The General is here?" Zoe looked stunned. "That is impossible! You lie." "Why would I lie? Look, there's no time; Skeleton warriors—" "What?" Thalia demanded "How many?" "Twelve," I said. "And that's not all. That guy, the General, he said he was sending something, a 'playmate,' to distract you over here, A monster." Thalia and Grover exchanged looks. "We were following Artemis's trail," Grover said. "I was pretty sure it led here. Some powerful monster scent… She must've stopped here looking for the mystery monster. But we haven't found anything yet." "Zoe," Bianca said nervously, "if it is the General—""It cannot be!" Zoe snapped. "Percy must have seen an Iris-message or some other illusion." "Illusions don't crack marble floors and I saw it too," I told her. Zoe took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. I didn't know why she was taking it so personally, or how she knew this General guy, but I figured now wasn't the time to ask. "If they are telling the truth about the skeleton warriors," she said, "we have no time to argue. They are the worst, the most horrible… We must leave now." "Good idea," Percy said. "I was not including thee, boy," Zoe said. "You are not part of this quest." "Hey, I'm trying to save your lives!" "You shouldn't have come, Percy," Thalia said grimly. "But you're here now. Come on. Let's get back to the van." "That is not thy decision!" Zoe snapped. Thalia scowled at her. "You're not the boss here, Zoe. I don't care how old you are! You're still a conceited little brat!" "You never had any wisdom when it came to boys," Zoe growled. "You never could leave them behind!" Thalia looked like she was about to hit Zoe. Then everyone froze, I heard a growl so loud I thought one of the rocket engines was starting up.

Below us, a few adults screamed. A little kid's voice screeched with delight: "Kitty!" Something enormous bounded up the ramp. It was the size of a pick-up truck, with silver claws and golden glittering fur. I'd seen this monster once before. Two years ago, I'd glimpsed it briefly from a train. Now, up close and personal, it looked even bigger. "The Nemean Lion," Thalia said. "Don't move." The lion roared so loud it parted my hair. Its fangs gleamed like stainless steel. "Separate on my mark," Zoe said. "Try to keep it distracted." "Until when?" Grover asked. "Until I think of a way to kill it. Go!" I pulled out my sword and rolled to the left. Arrows whistled past me, and Grover played a sharp tweet-tweet cadence on his reed pipes. I turned and saw Zoe and Bianca climbing the Apollo capsule. They were firing arrows, one after another, all shattering harmlessly against the lions metallic fur. The lion swiped the capsule and tipped it on its side, spilling the Hunters off the back. Grover played a frantic, horrible tune, and the lion turned toward him, but Thalia stepped into its path, holding up Aegis, and the lion recoiled. "ROOOAAAR!" "Hi-yah!" Thalia said. "Back!" The lion growled and clawed the air, but it retreated as if the shield were a blazing fire. For a second, I thought Thalia had it under control. Then I saw the lion crouching, its leg muscles tensing. I'd seen enough cat fights in the alleys around my apartment in New York. I knew the lion was going to pounce. "Hey!" I yelled. I don't know what I was thinking, but I charged the beast. I just wanted to get it away from my friends. I slashed with Riptide, a good strike to the flank that should've cut the monster into Meow Mix, but the blade just clanged against its fur in a burst of sparks. The lion raked me with its claws, ripping off a chunk of my coat. I backed against the railing. It sprang at me, one thousand pounds of monster, and I had no choice but to turn and jump.

I landed on the wing of an old-fashioned silver airplane, which pitched and almost spilled me to the floor, three stories below. An arrow whizzed past my head. The lion jumped onto the aircraft, and the cords holding the plane began to groan. The lion swiped at me, and I dropped onto the next exhibit, a weird-looking spacecraft with blades like a helicopter. I looked up and saw the lion roar—inside its maw, a pink tongue and throat. Its mouth, I thought. Its fur was completely invulnerable, but if I could strike it in the mouth… The only problem was, the monster moved too quickly. Between its claws and fangs, I couldn't get close without getting sliced to pieces. "Zoe!" I shouted. "Target the mouth!" The monster lunged. An arrow zipped past it, missing completely, and I dropped from the spaceship onto the top of a floor exhibit, a huge model of the earth. I slid down Russia and dropped off the equator. The Nemean Lion growled and steadied itself on the spacecraft, but its weight was too much. One of the cords snapped. As the display swung down like a pendulum, the lion leaped off onto the model earth's North Pole. "Grover!" I yelled. "Clear the area!" Groups of kids were running around screaming. Grover tried to corral them away from the monster just as the other cord on the spaceship snapped and the exhibit crashed to the floor. Thalia dropped off the second-floor railing and landed across from me, on the other side of the globe. The lion regarded us both, trying to decide which of us to kill first. Zoe and Bianca were above us, bows ready, but they had to move around to get a good angle. "No clear shot!" Zoe yelled. "Get it to open its mouth more!" The lion snarled from the top of the globe. I looked around. Options. I needed… The gift shop. I had a vague memory from my trip here as a little kid. Something I'd made my mom buy me, and I'd regretted it. If they still sold that stuff… "Thalia," I said, "keep it occupied." She nodded grimly. "Hi-yah!" She pointed her spear and a spidery arc of blue electricity shot out, zapping the lion in the tail.

"ROOOOOOOAR!" The lion turned and pounced. Thalia rolled out of its way, holding up Aegis to keep the monster at bay, and Percy ran for the gift shop. "This is no time for souvenirs, boy!" Zoe yelled. I followed him. I dashed into the shop, knocking over rows of T-shirts, jumping over tables full of glow-in-the-dark planets and space ooze. The sales lady didn't protest. She was too busy cowering behind her cash register. There, on the far wall—glittery silver packets, Whole racks of them. Percy scooped up every kind he could find and ran out of the shop with an armful. I copied him. Zoe and Bianca were still showering arrows on the monster, but it was no good. The lion seemed to know better than to open its mouth too much. It snapped at Thalia, slashing with its claws. It even kept its eyes narrowed to tiny slits. Thalia jabbed at the monster and backed up. The lion pressed her. "Percy," she called, "whatever you're going to do—" The lion roared and swatted her like a cat toy, sending her flying into the side of a Titan rocket. Her head hit the metal and she slid to the floor. "Hey!" I yelled at the lion. I was too far away to strike, so I took a risk: I snatched Riptide from Percy and hurled it like a throwing knife. It bounced off the lion's side, but that was enough to get the monster's attention. It turned toward me and snarled. There was only one way to get close enough. Percy and I charged, and as the lion leaped to intercept us, I chunked a space food pouch into its maw—a chunk of cellophane-wrapped, freeze-dried strawberry parfait. The lion's eyes got wide and it gagged like a cat with a hairball. I couldn't blame it. I remembered feeling the same way when I'd tried to eat space food as a kid. The stuff was just plain nasty. "Zoe, get ready!" I yelled. Behind me, I could hear people screaming. Grover was playing another horrible song on his pipes. I scrambled away from the lion. It managed to choke down the space food packet and looked at me with pure hate. "Snack time!" Percy yelled. It made the mistake of roaring at me, and I got an ice-cream sandwich in its throat. Fortunately, I had always been a pretty good pitcher, even though I didn't play baseball anymore. Before the lion could stop gagging, I shot in two more flavors of ice cream and a freeze-dried spaghetti dinner. The lion's eyes bugged. It opened its mouth wide and reared up on its back paws, trying to get away from me. "Now!" I yelled pulling out my bow and throwing the space food to Percy who was still gaging the lion.

Immediately, arrows pierced the lion's maw—three, six, nine. The lion thrashed wildly, turned, and fell backward. And then it was still. Alarms wailed throughout the museum. People were flocking to the exits. Security guards were running around in a panic with no idea what was going on. Grover knelt at Thalia's side and helped her up. She seemed okay, just a little dazed. Zoe and Bianca dropped from the balcony and landed next to me. Zoe eyed Percy cautiously. "That was… an interesting strategy." "Hey, it worked." She didn't argue. The lion seemed to be melting, the way dead monsters do sometimes, until there was nothing left but its glittering fur coat, and even that seemed to be shrinking to the size of a normal lion's pelt. "Take it," Zoe told Percy. Percy stared at her. "What, the lion's fur? Isn't that, like, an animal rights violation or something?" "It is a spoil of war," she told him. "It is rightly thine." "You killed it," he said. She shook her head, almost smiling. "I think thy ice-cream sandwich did that. Fair is fair, Percy Jackson. Take the fur." Percy lifted it up. As I watched, the pelt shifted and changed into a coat—a full-length golden-brown duster. "Not exactly my style," Percy murmured. "We have to get out of here," Grover said. "The security guards won't stay confused for long." I noticed for the first time how strange it was that the guards hadn't rushed forward to arrest us. They were scrambling in all directions except ours, like they were madly searching for something. A few were running into the walls or each other. "You did that?" Percy asked Grover. He nodded, looking a little embarrassed. "A minor confusion song. I played some Barry Manilow. It works every time. But it'll only last a few seconds." "The security guards are not our biggest worry," Zoe said. "Look." Through the glass walls of the museum, I could see a group of men walking across the lawn. Gray men in gray camouflage outfits. They were too far away for us to see their eyes, but I could feel their gaze aimed straight at me. "Go," Percy said. "They'll be hunting me. I'll distract them." "No," Zoe said. "We go together." he stared at her. "But, you said—" "You are part of this quest now," Zoe said grudgingly. "I do not like it, but there is no changing fate. You are the fifth quest member. And we are not leaving anyone behind.

We were crossing the Potomac when we spotted the helicopter. It was a sleek, black military model just like the one we'd seen at Westover Hall. And it was coming straight toward us. "They know the van," I said. "We have to ditch it." Zoe swerved into the fast lane. The helicopter was gaining. "Maybe the military will shoot it down," Grover said hopefully. "The military probably thinks it's one of theirs," I said. "How can the General use mortals, anyway?" "Mercenaries," Zoe said bitterly. "It is distasteful, but many mortals will fight for any cause as long as they are paid." "But don't these mortals see who they're working for?" I asked. "Don't they notice all the monsters around them?" Zoe shook her head. "I do not know how much they see through the Mist. I doubt it would matter to them if they knew the truth. Sometimes mortals can be more horrible than monsters." The helicopter kept coming, making a lot better time than we were through D.C. traffic. Thalia closed her eyes and prayed hard. "Hey, Dad. A lightning bolt would be nice about now. Please?" But the sky stayed gray and snowy. No sign of a helpful thunderstorm. "There!" Bianca said. "That parking lot!" "We'll be trapped," Zoe said. "Trust me," Bianca said. Zoe shot across two lanes of traffic and into a mall parking lot on the south bank of the river. We left the van and followed Bianca down some steps. "Subway entrance," Bianca said. "Let's go south. Alexandria." "Anything," Thalia agreed. We bought tickets and got through the turnstiles, looking behind us for any signs of pursuit. A few minutes later we were safely aboard a southbound train, riding away from D.C. As our train came above ground, we could see the helicopter circling the parking lot, but it didn't come after us. Grover let out a sigh. "Nice job, Bianca, thinking of the subway."

Bianca looked pleased. "Yeah, well. I saw that station when Nico and I came through last summer. I remember being really surprised to see it, because it wasn't here when we used to live in D.C." Grover frowned. "New? But that station looked really old." "I guess," Bianca said. "But trust me, when we lived here as little kids, there was no subway." Thalia sat forward. "Wait a minute. No subway at all?" Bianca nodded. Now, I knew nothing about D.C., but I didn't see how their whole subway system could be less than twelve years old. I guess everyone else was thinking the same thing, because they looked pretty confused. "Bianca," Zoe said. "How long ago…" Her voice faltered. The sound of the helicopter was getting louder again. "We need to change trains," I said. "Next station." Over the next half hour, all we thought about was getting away safely. We changed trains twice. I had no idea where we were going, but after a while we lost the helicopter. Unfortunately, when we finally got off the train we found ourselves at the end of the line, in an industrial area with nothing but warehouses and railway tracks. And snow, Lots of snow. It seemed much colder here. I was glad for my dragon skin coat with spells to keep me warm when needed. We wandered through the railway yard, thinking there might be another passenger train somewhere, but there were just rows and rows of freight cars, most of which were covered in snow, like they hadn't moved in years. A homeless guy was standing at a trash-can fire. We must've looked pretty pathetic, because he gave us a toothless grin and said, "Y'all need to get warmed up? Come on over!"

We huddled around his fire, Thalia's teeth were chattering. She said, "Well this is g-g-g-great." "My hooves are frozen," Grover complained. "Feet," Percy corrected, for the sake of the homeless guy. "Maybe we should contact camp," Bianca said. "Chiron—" "No," Zoe said. "They cannot help us anymore. We must finish this quest ourselves." Percy gazed miserably around the rail yard. Somewhere, far to the west, Annabeth was in danger. Artemis was in chains. A doomsday monster was on the loose. And we were stuck on the outskirts of D.C., sharing a homeless person's fire. "You know," the homeless man said, "you're never completely without friends." His face was grimy and his beard tangled, but his expression seemed kindly. "You kids need a train going west?" "Yes, sir," I said. "You know of any?" He pointed one greasy hand. Suddenly I noticed a freight train, gleaming and free of snow. It was one of those automobile-carrier trains, with steel mesh curtains and a triple-deck of cars inside. The side of the freight train said SUN WEST LINE. "That's… convenient," Thalia said. "Thanks, uh…" She turned to the homeless guy, but he was gone. The trash can in front of us was cold and empty, as if he'd taken the flames with him. An hour later we were rumbling west. There was no problem about who would drive now, because we all got our own luxury car. Zoe and Bianca were crashed out in a Lexus on the top deck. Grover was playing race car driver behind the wheel of a Lamborghini. And Thalia had hot-wired the radio in a black Mercedes SLK so she could pick up the alt-rock stations from D.C. I saw Percy join her in her car. I shook my head when Grover gestured me over and walked over to my favorite car; A red 2010 Corvette Stingray Concept with tinted windows, leather seats, and black trimming. I sat at the steering wheel and pretended to drive. Those reading this are likely wondering why is she acting like a child but remember I am 11years old. Finally I got bored. I leaned back and said quietly "I know it's you uncle." There was a flash and the homeless guy appeared and said "don't tell anyone. Call me Fred."

I smirked and said "ok, Uncle Fred. Thanks for the help. Hey what can I do to get this car as a late birthday present?" he chuckled and said "just bring your mom home. Oh and if you can will you pick up my son James Black from an orphanage near your destination. The orphanage is called St. Apollo's coincidently. Hears the address" I nodded and said "I'll do it but I need some rest." He nodded, wished me good dreams, and flashed out. About an hour later we stopped. Once we were off we discovered we were in New Mexico. We looked around wondering where to go next. I walked to a store that looked like it closed down a few days ago. I went to the back door and used alohamora to get inside. Inside were a lot of abandoned supplies. I pulled of my bag and packed as many candy bars as I could because I owed Conner and Travis. I also grabbed some sodas and some real food. When I got what I wanted I went back to the others. I was about to give out some of the canned food and crackers I found when something happened. Zoe and Grover arrived with the drinks and pastries, hot chocolate for Bianca and Percy, Coffee for them. Percy got a blueberry muffin, and I decided to settle for a can of ravioli. (**A/N: I love chef Boyardee**) "We should do the tracking spell," Zoe said. "Grover, do you have any acorns left?" "Umm," Grover mumbled. He was chewing on a bran muffin, wrapper and all. "I think so. I just need to—" He froze. I was about to ask what was wrong, when a warm breeze rustled past, like a gust of springtime had gotten lost in the middle of winter. Fresh air seasoned with wildflowers and sunshine. And something else—almost like a voice, trying to say something. A warning. Zoe gasped. "Grover, thy cup." Grover dropped his coffee cup, which was decorated with pictures of birds. Suddenly the birds peeled off the cup and flew away—a flock of tiny doves. My rubber rat squeaked. It scampered off the railing and into the trees—real fur, real whiskers. "Pan!" the name came out of my mouth before I could stop myself.

Grover collapsed next to his coffee, which steamed against the snow. We gathered around him and tried to wake him up. He groaned, his eyes fluttering. "Hey!" Thalia said, running up from the street. "I just… What's wrong with Grover?" "I don't know," Percy said. "He collapsed." "Uuuuuhhhh," Grover groaned. "Well, get him up!" Thalia said. She had her spear in her hand. She looked behind her as if she were being followed. "We have to get out of here." We made it to the edge of the town before the first two skeleton warriors appeared. They stepped from the trees on either side of the road. Instead of gray camouflage, they were now wearing blue New Mexico State Police uniforms, but they had the same transparent gray skin and yellow eyes. They drew their handguns. Thalia tapped her bracelet. Aegis spiraled to life on her arm, but the warriors didn't flinch. Their glowing yellow eyes bored right into me. I drew my sword. Zoe and Bianca drew their bows, but Bianca was having trouble because Grover kept swooning and leaning against her. "Back up," Thalia said. We started to—but then I heard a rustling of branches. Two more skeletons appeared on the road behind us. We were surrounded. I wondered where the other skeletons were. I'd seen a dozen at the Smithsonian. Then one of the warriors raised a cell phone to his mouth and spoke into it. Except he wasn't speaking. He made a clattering, clicking sound, like dry teeth on bone. Suddenly I understood what was going on. The skeletons had split up to look for us. These skeletons were now calling their brethren. Soon we'd have a full party on our hands.

"It's near," Grover moaned. "It's here," Percy said. "No," he insisted "The gift, the gift from the Wild." I didn't know what he was talking about, but I was worried about his condition. He was in no shape to walk, much less fight. "We'll have to go one-on-one," Thalia said "Four of them, five of us. Maybe they'll ignore Grover that way." "Agreed," said Zoe "The Wild!" Grover moaned. A warm wind blew through the canyon, rustling the trees, but I kept my eyes on the skeletons. The Percy suddenly charged. The first skeleton fired. Percy deflected it off the edge of his blade and kept charging. The skeleton drew a baton and Percy sliced off his arms at the elbows. Then Percy swung Riptide through his waist and cut him in half. His bones unknit and clattered to the asphalt in a heap. Almost immediately, they began to move, reassembling themselves. The second skeleton clattered his teeth at me and tried to fire, but I knocked his gun into the snow. I thought Percy was doing pretty well, until the other two skeletons shot him in the back. "Percy!" Thalia screamed. He landed face-down in the street. I realized he wasn't dead. The impact of the bullets had been dull, like a push from behind, but they hadn't hurt him. The Nemean Lion's fur! His coat was bulletproof. Thalia charged the second skeleton. Zoe and Bianca started firing arrows at the third and fourth. Grover stood there and held his hands out to the trees, looking like he wanted to hug them. There was a crashing sound in the forest to our left, like a bulldozer. Maybe the skeletons' reinforcements were arriving. There was no way to stop them. Zoe and Bianca fired at their heads point-blank, but the arrows just whistled straight through their empty skulls. One lunged at Bianca, and I thought she was gone, but she whipped out her hunting knife and stabbed the warrior in the chest. The whole skeleton erupted into flames, leaving a little pile of ashes and a police badge.

"How did you do that?" Zoe asked. "I don't know," Bianca said nervously. "Lucky stab?" "Well, do it again!" Bianca tried, but the remaining three skeletons were wary of her now. They pressed us back, keeping us at baton's length. "Plan?" I said as we retreated. Nobody answered. The trees behind the skeletons were shivering. Branches were cracking. "A gift," Grover muttered. And then, with a mighty roar, the largest pig I'd ever seen came crashing into the road. It was a wild boar, thirty feet high, with a snotty pink snout and tusks the size of canoes. Its back bristled with brown hair, and its eyes were wild and angry. "REEEEEEEEET!" it squealed, and raked the three skeletons aside with its tusks. The force was so great; they went flying over the trees and into the side of the mountain, where they smashed to pieces, thigh bones and arm bones twirling everywhere. Then the pig turned on us. Thalia raised her spear, but Grover yelled, "Don't kill it." The boar grunted and pawed the ground, ready to charge. "That's the Erymanthian Boar," Zoe said, trying to stay calm. "I don't think we can kill it." "It's a gift," Grover said. "A blessing from the Wild!" The boar said "REEEEEEET!" and swung its tusk. Zoe and Bianca dived out of the way. I had to push Grover so he wouldn't get launched into the mountain on the Boar Tusk Express. "Yeah, I feel blessed!" I said. "Scatter!" We ran in different directions, and for a moment the boar was confused. "It wants to kill us!" Thalia said. "Of course," Grover said. "It's wild!" "So how is that a blessing?" Bianca asked. It seemed a fair question to me, but the pig was offended and charged her. She was faster than I'd realized. She rolled out of the way of its hooves and came up behind the beast. It lashed out with its tusks and pulverized the WELCOME TO CLOUDCROFT, NEW MEXICO sign. I racked my brain, trying to remember the myth of the boar. I was pretty sure Hercules had fought this thing once, but I couldn't remember how he'd beaten it. I had a vague memory of the boar plowing down several Greek cities before Hercules managed to subdue it. I hoped Cloudcroft was insured against giant wild boar attacks. "Keep moving!" Zoe yelled. She and Bianca ran in opposite directions. Grover danced around the boar, playing his pipes while the boar snorted and tried to gouge him. But Thalia and I won the prize for bad luck. When the boar turned on us, Thalia made the mistake of raising Aegis in defense. The sight of the Medusa head made the boar squeal in outrage and charged us. I then did something highly illegal that would have had me thrown into Azkaban if I were in the UK. I pointed my sword at it and shouted the first spell that came to mind "**_IMPERIO_**" the boar stopped. I then walked over and levitated myself up. I told it to kneel and the others climbed on. I had it turn west and start running before canceling the curse. It ran not even noticing we were on its back.

I was so happy when the ride was over. We were now at a place called GILA CLAW, ARIZONA. And it was just getting fully dark. We set up camp and sat talking for a bit. After a while Grover said he was hungry for the 10th time and I lobbed a can of chicken soup at his head efficiently making him shut up without using silencing charms. Sadly he went back to talking after he was done eating. When that happened I turned to soda. I think I had three packs of soda and I know I started twitching and rambling about the wizarding world. Then out of know where a white limo came at us. We all scrambled out of the way as it stopped. The door opened and Ares god of war stepped out. He told Percy someone, I assume Aphrodite, wanted to talk to him. While he was in the limo I got nervous. I just finished my sixth pack of soda when he stepped out. By that time I was doing jumping-jacks to burn off some energy. "Ok" said Ares "now before we go Aphrodite and I need to talk to the daughter of Artemis." I stopped jumping and stepped forward. Ares climbed in and I followed. "Hello!" I exclaimed brightly to Aphrodite "beautiful night isn't it? Why am I here? Do you need something? If it's about the soda I have more than the thirty – six cans I had. hahahaha. You wanted to speak?" "Yes I did. First YOU HAD 36 CANS OF SODA? Ares how is that possible?" "I don't know Aphrodite? But to the reason we want to speak to you. We heard you were taking a trip to St. Apollo's in San Francisco. We also have kids there. If you get them we'll have Apollo give you the car sooner and we'll get you your driver's license." "It's a deal. Can you please take away the soda affects?" so I exited the limo without sugar -high and a paper with the names on it in hand. I pocketed the paper, packed up my stuff, and started west ignoring the others. Percy kept talking. When he asked how I even knew we were going west I said "my mother is Artemis I know what I am doing, And Grover." Grover looked at me and I kicked him in the leg hard. He yelped and fell. I looked down at him and said "you kicked me at the museum for no reason so I kicked you for revenge." And I started walking again. A few minutes later we stopped at the edge of a junk yard. Piles of metal objects glinted in the moonlight: broken heads of bronze horses, metal legs from human statues, smashed chariots, tons of shields and swords and other weapons, along with more modern stuff, like cars that gleamed gold and silver, refrigerators, washing machines, and computer monitors. "Whoa," Bianca said. "That stuff… some of it looks like real gold."

"It is," Thalia said grimly. "Don't touch anything. This is the junkyard of the gods." "Junk" Grover picked up a beautiful crown made of gold, silver, and jewels. It was broken on one side, as if it had been split by an axe. "You call this junk?" He bit off a point and began to chew. "It's delicious!" Thalia swatted the crown out of his hands. "I'm serious!" "Look!" Bianca said. She raced down the hill, tripping over bronze coils and golden plates. She picked up a bow that glowed silver in moonlight "A Hunter's bow!" She yelped in surprise as the bow began to shrink, and became a hair clip shaped like a crescent moon. "It's just like Percy's sword!" Zoe's face was grim. "Leave it, Bianca." "But—" "It is here for a reason. Anything thrown away in this junkyard must stay in this yard. It is defective. Or cursed." Bianca reluctantly set the hair clip down. "I don't like this place," Thalia said. She gripped the shaft of her spear. "You think we're going to get attacked by killer refrigerators?" Percy asked. She gave him a hard look. "Zoe is right, Percy. Things get thrown away here for a reason. Now come on, let's get across the yard." "That's the second time you've agreed with Zoe," I muttered, but Thalia ignored me. We started picking our way through the hills and valleys of junk. The stuff seemed to go on forever, and if it hadn't been for Ursa Major, we would've gotten lost. All the hills pretty much looked the same. I'd like to say we left the stuff alone, but there was too much cool junk not to check out some of it. I found an electric guitar shaped like Apollo's lyre that was so cool I had to pick it up. Grover found a broken tree made out of metal. It had been chopped to pieces, but some of the branches still had golden birds in them, and they whirred around when Grover picked them up, trying to flap their wings. Finally, we saw the edge of the junkyard about half a mile ahead of us, the lights of a highway stretching through the desert. But between us and the road… "What is that?" Bianca gasped.

Ahead of us was a hill much bigger and longer than the others. It was like a metal mesa, the length of a football field and as tall as goalposts. At one end of the mesa was a row of ten thick metal columns, wedged tightly together. Bianca frowned. "They look like—" "Toes," Grover said. Bianca nodded. "Really, really large toes." Zoe and Thalia exchanged nervous looks. "Let's go around," Thalia said "Far around." "But the road is right over there," I protested "Quicker to climb over." Ping. Thalia hefted her spear and Zoe drew her bow, but then I realized it was only Grover. He had thrown a piece of scrap metal at the toes and hit one, making a deep echo, as if the column were hollow. "Why did you do that?" Zoe demanded. Grover cringed. "I don't know. I, uh, don't like fake feet?" "Come on." Thalia looked at me. "Around." I didn't argue. The toes were starting to freak me out, too. I mean, who sculpts ten-foot-tall metal toes and sticks them in a junkyard? After several minutes of walking, we finally stepped onto the highway, an abandoned but well-lit stretch of black asphalt. "We made it out," Zoe said. "Thank the gods." But apparently the gods didn't want to be thanked. At that moment, I heard a sound like a thousand trash compactors crushing metal. I whirled around. Behind us, the scrap mountain was boiling, rising up. The ten toes tilted over, and I realized why they looked like toes. They were toes. The thing that rose up from the metal was a bronze giant in full Greek battle armor. He was impossibly tall—a skyscraper with legs and arms. He gleamed wickedly in the moonlight. He looked down at us, and his face was deformed. The left side was partially melted off. His joints creaked with rust, and across his armored chest, written in thick dust by some giant finger, were the words WASH ME. "Talos!" Zoe gasped. "Who—who's Talos?" I stuttered. "One of Hephaestus's creations," Thalia said. "But that can't be the original. It's too small. A prototype, maybe, a defective model. The metal giant didn't like the word defective. He moved one hand to his sword belt and drew his weapon. The sound of it coming out of its sheath was horrible, metal screeching against metal. The blade was a hundred feet long, easy. It looked rusty and dull, but I didn't figure that mattered. Getting hit with that thing would be like getting hit with a battleship. "Someone took something," Zoe said. "Who took something?" she stared accusingly at Percy. He shook his head. "I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a thief." Bianca didn't say anything. I could swear she looked guilty, but I didn't have much time to think about it, because the giant defective Talos took one step toward us, closing half the distance and making the ground shake. "Run!" Grover yelped.

Great advice, except that it was hopeless. At a leisurely stroll, this thing could outdistance us easily. We split up, the way we'd done with the Nemean Lion. Thalia drew her shield and held it up as she ran down the highway. The giant swung his sword and took out a row of power lines, which exploded in sparks and scattered across Thalia's path. Zoe's arrows whistled toward the creature's face but shattered harmlessly against the metal. Grover brayed like a baby goat and went climbing up a mountain of metal. Bianca and I ended up next to each other, hiding behind a broken chariot. "You took something," I said. "That bow." "No!" she said, but her voice was quivering. "Give it back!" Percy said. "Throw it down!" "I… I didn't take the bow! Besides, it's too late." "What did you take?" Before she could answer, I heard a massive creaking noise, and a shadow blotted out the sky. "Move!" I tore down the hill, Bianca right behind me, as the giant's foot smashed a crater in the ground where we'd been hiding. "Hey, Talos!" Grover yelled, but the monster raised his sword, looking down at Bianca and me. Grover played a quick melody on his pipes. Over at the highway, the downed power lines began to dance. I understood what Grover was going to do a split second before it happened. One of the poles with power lines still attached flew toward Talos's back leg and wrapped around his calf the lines sparked and sent a jolt of electricity up the giant's backside. Talos whirled around, creaking and sparking. Grover had bought us a few seconds. "Come on!" I told Bianca. But she stayed frozen. From her pocket, she brought out a small metal figurine, a statue of a god. "It… it was for Nico. It was the only statue he didn't have." "How can you think of Mythomagic at a time like this?" I said. There were tears in her eyes. "Throw it down," I said. "Maybe the giant will leave us alone." She dropped it reluctantly, but nothing happened. The giant kept coming after Grover. It stabbed its sword into a junk hill, missing Grover by a few feet, but scrap metal made an avalanche over him, and then I couldn't see him anymore. "No!" Thalia yelled. She pointed her spear, and a blue arc of lightning shot out, hitting the monster in his rusty knee, which buckled. The giant collapsed, but immediately started to rise again. It was hard to tell if it could feel anything. There weren't any emotions in its half-melted face, but I got the sense that it was about as ticked off as a twenty-story-tall metal warrior could be.

He raised his foot to stomp and I saw that his sole was treaded like the bottom of a sneaker. There was a hole in his heel, like a large manhole, and there were red words painted around it, which I deciphered only after the foot came down: FOR MAINTENANCE ONLY. "Crazy-idea time," Percy said. Bianca looked at me nervously. "Anything." I told her about the maintenance hatch. "There may be a way to control the thing, Switches or something. I'm going to get inside." "How? You'll have to stand under its foot! You'll be crushed" "Distract it," I said. "I'll just have to time it right." Bianca's jaw tightened. "No. I'll go." "You can't. You're new at this! You'll die." "It's my fault the monster came after us," she said. "It's my responsibility. Here" She picked up the little god statue and pressed it into my hand. "If anything happens, give that to Nico. Tell him… tell him I'm sorry." "Bianca, no!" But she wasn't waiting for me. She charged at the monster's left foot. Thalia had its attention for the moment. She'd learned that the giant was big but slow. If you could stay close to it and not get smashed, you could run around it and stay alive. At least, it was working so far. Bianca got right next to the giant's foot, trying to balance herself on the metal scraps that swayed and shifted with his weight. Zoe yelled, "What are you doing?" "Get it to raise its foot!" she said. Zoe shot an arrow toward the monster's face and it flew straight into one nostril. The giant straightened and shook its head. "Hey, Junk Boy!" Percy yelled. "Down here." He ran up to its big toe and stabbed it with Riptide. The magic blade cut a gash in the bronze. Unfortunately, his plan worked. Talos looked down at him and raised his foot to squash him like a bug. I didn't see what Bianca was doing. I had to turn and run. The sword came down about two inches behind me and I was knocked into the air. I hit something hard and sat up, dazed. I'd been thrown into an Olympus-Air refrigerator. The monster was about to finish me off, but Grover somehow dug himself out of the junk pile. He played his pipes frantically, and his music sent another power line pole whacking against Talos's thigh. The monster turned. Grover should've run, but he must've been too exhausted from the effort of so much magic. He took two steps, fell, and didn't get back up.

"Grover!" Thalia and Percy both ran toward him, but I knew we'd be too late. The monster raised his sword to smash Grover. Then he froze. Talos cocked his head to one side, like he was hearing strange new music. He started moving his arms and legs in weird ways, doing the Funky Chicken. Then he made a fist and punched himself in the face. "Go, Bianca!" I yelled. Zoe looked horrified. "She is inside?" The monster staggered around, and I realized we were still in danger. Thalia and Percy grabbed Grover and ran with him toward the highway. Zoe was already ahead of us. She yelled, "How will Bianca get out?" The giant hit itself in the head again and dropped his sword. A shudder ran through his whole body and he staggered toward the power lines. "Look out!" I yelled, but it was too late. The giant's ankle snared the lines, and blue flickers of electricity shot up his body. I hoped the inside was insulated. I had no idea what was going on in there. The giant careened back into the junkyard, and his right hand fell off, landing in the scrap metal with a horrible CLANG! His left arm came loose, too. He was falling apart at the joints. Talos began to run. "Wait!" Zoe yelled. We ran after him, but there was no way we could keep up. Pieces of the robot kept falling off, getting in our way. The giant crumbled from the top down: his head, his chest, and finally, his legs collapsed. When we reached the wreckage we searched frantically, yelling Bianca's name. We crawled around in the vast hollow pieces and the legs and the head. We searched until the sun started to rise, but no luck. Zoe sat down and wept. I was stunned to see her cry. I sat down and rapped my technically adopted sister in a hug and we cried for our lost sister. Thalia yelled in rage and impaled her sword in the giant's smashed face. "We can keep searching," I said. "It's light now. We'll find her." "No we won't," Grover said miserably. "It happened just as it was supposed to." "What are you talking about?" I demanded. He looked up at me with big watery eyes. "The prophecy. One shall he lost in the land without rain." Why hadn't I seen it? Why had I let her go instead of me? Here we were in the desert. And Bianca di Angelo was gone my sister was dead.

We found a tow truck and drove as far as we could west. The tow truck ran out of gas at the edge of a river canyon. That was just as well, because the road dead-ended. Thalia got out and slammed the door. Immediately, one of the tires blew. "Great. What now?" I scanned the horizon. There wasn't much to see. Desert in all directions, occasional clumps of barren mountains plopped here and there. The canyon was the only thing interesting. The river itself wasn't very big, maybe fifty yards across, green water with a few rapids, but it carved a huge scar out of the desert. The rock cliffs dropped away below us. "There's a path," Grover said. "We could get to the river." I tried to see what he was talking about, and finally noticed a tiny ledge winding down the cliff face. "That's a goat path," I said. "So?" he asked. "The rest of us aren't goats." "We can make it," Grover said. "I think." I thought about that. I'd done cliffs before, but I didn't like them. "No," Percy said. "I, uh, think we should go farther upstream." Grover said, "But—" "Come on," I said. "A walk won't hurt us. Besides" I looked down and saw something "there's a young Cyclops down at the end of the path" I glanced at Thalia. Her eyes said a quick Thank you. We followed the river about half a mile before coming to an easier slope that led down to the water. On the shore was a canoe rental operation that was closed for the season, but Percy left a stack of golden drachmas on the counter and a note saying IOU two canoes. "We need to go upstream," Zoe said. It was the first time I'd heard her speak since the junkyard, and I was worried about how bad she sounded, like somebody with the flu. "The rapids are too swift." "Leave that to me," Percy said. We put the canoes in the water. Percy had some naiads push us up stream. As we went along the river the cliffs along the river were getting taller. Long shadows fell across the water, making it a lot colder, even though the day was bright. The canoe was slowing down. I looked ahead, and I saw why. This was as far as they could take us. The river was blocked. A dam the size of a football stadium stood in our path. "Hoover Dam," Thalia said. "It's huge." We stood at the river's edge, looking up at a curve of concrete that loomed between the cliffs. People were walking along the top of the dam. They were so tiny they looked like fleas. The naiads had left with a lot of grumbling—not in words I could understand, but it was obvious they hated this dam blocking up their nice river. Our canoes floated back downstream, swirling in the wake from the dam's discharge vents. "Seven hundred feet tall," Percy said. "Built in the 1930s." "Five million cubic acres of water," Thalia said. Graver sighed. "Largest construction project in the United States." Zoe and I stared at them. "How do you know all that?" "Annabeth," Percy said. "She liked architecture." "She was nuts about monuments," Thalia said. "Spouted facts all the time." Grover sniffled. "So annoying" "I wish she were here," I said "She sounds cool".

The others nodded. Zoe was still looking at us strangely, but I didn't care. It seemed like cruel fate that we'd come to Hoover Dam, one of Annabeth's personal favorites, and she wasn't here to see it. "We should go up there," I said. "For her sake. Just to say we've been." "You are mad," Zoe decided. "But that's where the road is." She pointed to a huge parking garage next to the top of the dam. "And so, sightseeing it is." We had to walk for almost an hour before we found a path that led up to the road. It came up on the east side of the river. Then we straggled back toward the dam. It was cold and windy on top. On one side, a big lake spread out, ringed by barren desert mountains. On the other side, the dam dropped away like the world's most dangerous skateboard ramp, down to the river seven hundred feet below, and water that churned from the dam's vents. Thalia walked in the middle of the road, far away from the edges. Grover kept sniffing the wind and looking nervous. He didn't say anything, but I knew he smelled monsters. "How close are they?" I asked him. He shook his head. "Maybe not close. The wind on the dam, the desert all around us… the scent can probably carry for miles. But it's coming from several directions. I don't like that." I didn't either. It was already Wednesday, only two days until winter solstice, and we still had a long way to go. We didn't need any more monsters, "There's a snack bar in the visitor center," Thalia said. "You've been here before?" I asked. "Once. To see the guardians." She pointed to the far end of the dam. Carved into the side of the cliff was a little plaza with two big bronze statues. They looked kind of like Oscar statues with wings. "They were dedicated to Zeus when the dam was built," Thalia said. "A gift from Athena." Tourists were clustered all around them. They seemed to be looking at the statues' feet. "What are they doing?" I asked. "Rubbing the toes," Thalia said. "They think its good luck." "Why?" She shook her head. "Mortals get crazy ideas. They don't know the statues are sacred to Zeus, but they know there's something special about them." "When you were here last, did they talk to you or anything?" Thalia's expression darkened. I could tell that she'd come here before hoping for exactly that—some kind of sign from her dad, some connection. "No. They don't do anything. They're just big metal statues."

I thought about the last big metal statue we'd run into. That hadn't gone so well. But I decided not to bring it up. "Let us find the damn snack bar," Zoe said. "We should eat while we can." Grover cracked a smile. "The dam snack bar?" Zoe blinked. "Yes. What is funny?" "Nothing," Grover said, trying to keep a straight face. "I could use some dam French fries." Even Thalia smiled at that. "And I need to use the dam restroom." Maybe it was the fact that we were so tired and strung out emotionally, but I started cracking up, and Thalia and Grover joined in, while Zoe just looked at us. "I do not understand." "I want to use the dam water fountain," Grover said. "Maybe I should look for a dam tour guide" "And…" Thalia tried to catch her breath. "I want to buy a dam T-shirt." I busted up, and I probably would've kept laughing all day but then I got a bad feeling and pulled everyone inside. As I passed the statue I rubbed the toes because I knew I would need all the like I could get. I heard a chattering of teeth as I was getting my burrito. I looked at the others Grover started a food fight and we ran. Percy got separated and we all ended up cornered by the statues. Percy had Thalia prey to her dad. And the statues saved us from getting shot. I told the statues to take the others and I would catch up. They looked confused but did so. I turned to the skeletons I turned them to ash with incendio. I summoned my firebolt from my bag with accio and obliviated the mortals/muggles. I then sped off after the others. I felt great to fly again. I was rolling, diving, twirling, swinging, and dodging. We all flew quickly west because Artemis was needed for the summer solstice. I also had things to do, you know save the three demigods from the monster watching the orphanage. We landed in San Francisco were we were supposed to be. After a short argument we figured what needed done. They would go trick the old sea god Nereus into finding the creature Artemis (I should start calling her mom or mother) was looking for and I would go do my secret quest. I told them I would meet them at the docks. I pulled out my motorcycle after putting my broom away and I rode off.

It took me a while but after getting directions I got there no problem. I walked in and went up to one of the caretakers. "Hi" I said "could you direct me to three of the kid hear I need to talk to them." "Of course, dear. What are their names." She asked. I said "James Black, Victoria Styles, and Dustin Gunn" "right this way, Dearie" I followed with my wand hidden behind my back. "Hear they are I will be right back." I turned to them once she was gone and said "come on, I'm taking you too a safe place, unless you want to stay in this dumpy place." They quickly packed a bag of their few possessions and we ran downstairs and got intercepted by the caretaker who changed into _the_ python. I pulled my bow out and tossed it to James with the Quiver. I also gave the other two knives and my shield went to Victoria. I used magic to trap it in a sphere then I made said sphere smaller. After I squeezed the python to death I sent it to Ares, Apollo, and Aphrodite with a note saying _I got them were going to help the others then return the New York. Please let there be weapons for them because I want mine back. Signed Serena Black, The Daughter of Artemis._ I led the three outside ware my car was waiting gleaming with a beautiful and dangerous glow. I walked over to the trunk and opened it. I grabbed their bags and shoved them into the trunk. After taking my stuff back I shoved them all in back seat. I got in the front seat and pulled a note from the steering wheel that said (A/N _Aphrodite, Apollo_, **_Ares_**)_ thank you, Serena, I owe you one. Expect a visit from if not me than my kids._ I shuddered. _A deal is a deal, Kiddo. Oh, and by the way James is your cousin in the wizarding world as well. I know grows, but I didn't expect Artemis to even have a kid. Got to go thanks_ I glanced at James and shuddered again. I then read Ares's **_thanks Kid. And if you press the button with the Ω on it I'll have you covered. The spears for my boy, the bow's for your cousin and the others are for Aphrodite's kid temporarily. _**I pressed the button and a weapons rack came down from the roof of the car. I told them which was for them. After we all were buckled I took off. I knew I was speeding. I also knew that I had passed about 20 cop cars and the just ignored us. When I drifted into the dock area a small battle was going on and my friends were losing. "All right you three." I say "use your instincts and your weapons. Victoria" "call me Vicky" "yea um, Vicky, that sword is not meant for you so you just do your best and don't get killed. Everyone grab a shield and let's go!" we charged id and I immediately nocked Luke out. I stabbed Thorne in the face and ran to the others. Thalia was obviously in a trance but with a quick auguamenti I pulled her out of it. Percy dried her and I called the others over. "Who can drive a motorcycle?" I asked. Dustin said "I used to drive Vicky to school on mine but some punk came and blew it up, literally." I shoved the keys in his hands and said "you two follow the car." I handed my car keys to Zoe with the words "I just got that car, Zoe, and I swear with Apollo, Ares, and Aphrodite as my witness if there is even a tiny scratch on it I will cut your hand off." She nodded as I pulled out both my motorcycle and my broom. I followed by air after I obliviated the Mortals.

A while later they pulled into a house driveway. I landed to see what was happening. Thalia had told Zoe to come here because it was Annabeth's house. I put my bike and my broom away took my keys from Zoe and made sure nothing was damaged. We all went inside. I asked where I could show the three newbies some things and was shoved into the back yard. Apparently the neighbors were told that Annabeth went to a reenactment camp for those to love Greek myths and friends sometimes come to visit. As I showed the three how to use their weapons the others spoke to Dr. Chase. About 10 minutes later Mrs. Chase came out with a tray of sandwiches and lemonade. Not too long after we were leaving. Zoe, Percy, Thalia and Grover were in Dr. Chase's car and the rest of us were in my corvette. Most of the way up Mt. Tamaulipas the other car stopped. Everyone in it jumped out just before it got struck by lightning. We all got out seeing what was going on with them. Zoe looked pale. She told us the cars were not able to go any farther because of the mist. Percy asked "which kind" and she replied "both". I had Vicky, Dustin, and James stay with my car. We all armored up and walked through the mist. We ended up in a beautiful garden. Over in the middle of the garden was a tree with golden apples guarded by a huge multi-headed dragon. Zoe's sisters came out and tricked her into waking the dragon which got Zoe bitten. We ran up the hill as fast as we could. Only to be greeted with a terrifying sight. My mother was holding the sky and for the first time since I met her looked weak. Zoe and I ran forward immediately. "My lady!" Zoe called out, but Artemis said, "Stop! It is a trap. You must leave now." Her voice was strained. She was drenched in sweat. I had never seen a goddess in pain before, but the weight of the sky was clearly too much for Artemis.

Zoe was crying. She ran forward despite Artemis's protests, and tugged at the chains. A booming voice spoke behind us: "Ah, how touching." We turned. The General was standing there in his brown silk suit. At his side were Luke and half a dozen dracaenae bearing the golden sarcophagus of Kronos. Annabeth stood at Luke's side. She had her hands cuffed behind her back, a gag in her mouth, and Luke was holding the point of his sword to her throat. "Luke," Thalia snarled. "Let her go." Luke's smile was weak and pale. He looked even worse than he had three days ago in D.C. "That is the General's decision, Thalia. But it's good to see you again." Thalia spat at him. The General chuckled. "So much for old friends, And you, Zoe. It's been a long time. How is my little traitor? I will enjoy killing you." "Do not respond," Artemis groaned. "Do not challenge him." "Wait a second," I said. "You're _Atlas_?" The General glanced at me. "So, even the stupidest of heroes can finally figure something out. Yes, I am Atlas, the general of the Titans and terror of the gods. Congratulations. I will kill you presently, as soon as I deal with this wretched girl." "OK, someone tell me he did _not_ just call me stupid!" "You're not going to hurt Zoe" Percy said. "I won't let you." The General sneered. "You have no right to interfere, little hero. This is a family matter." He frowned. "A family matter?" "Yes," Zoe said bleakly. "Atlas is my father." I could see the family resemblance. Atlas had the same regal expression as Zoe, the same cold proud look in his eyes that Zoe sometimes got when she was mad, though on him it looked a thousand times more evil. "Let Artemis go," Zoe demanded. Atlas walked closer to the chained goddess. "Perhaps you'd like to take the sky for her, then? Be my guest." Zoe opened her mouth to speak, but Artemis said, "No! Do not offer, Zoe! I forbid you." Atlas smirked. He knelt next to Artemis and tried to touch her face, but the goddess bit at him, almost taking off his fingers. "Hoo-hoo," Atlas chuckled. "You see daughter? Lady Artemis likes her new job. I think I will have all the Olympians take turns carrying my burden, once Lord Kronos rules again, and this is the center of our palace. It will teach those weaklings some humility." all I could do was staring at her.

Her hair was now streaked with gray. "From holding the sky," Thalia muttered, as if she'd read my mind. "The weight should've killed her." "I don't understand," Percy said. I face palmed and whispered "Percy, Please shut up. You are just making us all look bad." "Why can't Artemis just let go of the sky?" Atlas laughed. "How little you understand, young one. This is the point where the sky and the earth first met, where Ouranos and Gaia first brought forth their mighty children, the Titans. The sky still yearns to embrace the earth. Someone must hold it at bay, or else it would crush down upon this place, instantly flattening the mountain and everything within a hundred leagues. Once you have taken the burden, there is no escape." Atlas smiled. I glared at him and said "have you heard of the magical world?" he looked at me and said "Ah, yes the untrained witch your skills would be useful." I looked at him like he was nuts and said "My mother is being forced to hold up the sky and you want me to join you?" I cast a spell at him and ran over to my mother. Standing right next to her I put my hands against the sky and said "Move" "No, I will not let you do this." I glared and used wand-less magic to push her out from under the sky. I heard fighting but I was too consumed by the pain I was in to understand what was happening. But I knew Annabeth was a good fighter. I willed her to be free then heard her join the fight against Luke. I knew I was going to die from stress. My friends and family flashed before my eyes; Dad, Silena, Uncle Andy, Aunt Anna, Mother, Zoe, Victoria, Dustin, and my cousin James. Just as I thought I would collapse I remembered I have magic. I focused on my magical core pushing all my power to my hands. I heard My Mother say in my mind '_be ready to jump out of the way I'm sending Atlas that way_' I nodded and got ready. I saw a massive body coming at me and using my magic I pushed the sky up then rolled out of the way I heard a big slam as the sky came down on the titan and a stream of curses came out. We all looked at each other and I felt light headed. I remember saying "Get my car to camp or I'll kill someone." Then the world went black.

A/N: Long chapter huh? Please review. And I am a perfectionist, so tell me if I messed up. Oh and I would like to say the magic world will be coming up soon. Love Serena


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Back to the wizard world

I woke up to Apollo sticking his face an inch away from mine and screaming "ARE YOU AWAKE YET" too which I responded by head butting him. I guess I wasn't the only one who that annoyed because he was also hit by not only my mother but Aphrodite and Ares as well. Ares turned to me and said "welcome back to the world of the living kid. Now I would love to stay here and chat but Zeus wanted to speak to you and the others on the quest." I stood up and nearly fell again but mum caught me. With her assistance I walked to the throne room. Apollo summoned a chair and had me sit in it. As Zeus spoke nobody said or did anything except Apollo who kept shoving potions in my hands and telling me to drink them. Finally Apollo decided I was able to function he went to his throne. I stood and walked over to the others. I listened as they voted on whether or not they should kill us but I noticed someone was missing. "Ware is Zoe? She should be here too." I saw many sad faces and knew what happened before mother said it "She didn't make it." "How did she die?" I asked quietly. Percy replied "one was lost at a parents hand like the prophecy said." I nodded. "Right" said Zeus "Those in favor of killing them." Dionysus and Hera raised their hands. When Hades' hand started up I said "You have us killed, Hades and we go straight to the underworld." He smoothly covered by moving hair out of his face. "Those opposed to killing them" 12 hands went into the air. "They may live" I then stepped forward than said "two things; 1st thank you for not killing all of us and 2nd please tell me my car was taken to camp." Apollo laughed and replied "your welcome and yes without a scratch." I nodded and stepped back they argued about a dangerous sea creature which also survived. Thalia was made mums new Lieutenant and we all had a party. At about 1:00 in the morning I ended up standing to the side watching the dancers by my mum when Apollo came over and said "Serena, would you like to dance?" I saw James come up too "sure, come on James I wanted to talk to you anyway." I drug my cousin off laughing at my uncle's reaction.

"Hay" I said "let's get everyone to think we're our parents." He nods and sits up straighter. I look at him and say "Apollo let me go; I do not want to dance, especially not with you" "Sure thing little sis." "I AM OLDER!" "Sure you are." "Ugh, you are impossible." As I said that I pulled out my bow and aimed an arrow between his eyes. Zeus stepped forward and said "Artemis, Apollo, that's enough." I put my bow away and we looked at him then fell to the floor laughing when we see the rest of the council behind him. Our parents came out from the other side to see what was happening and realization dawned on Zeus' face. He started chuckling and muttering about little pranksters. James looked at me and said "That was almost as awesome as me, Good job little cousin." I looked at him with an evil expression and snarled "I'M OLDER THAN YOU." "Whatever, Age is over rated." We glared at each other for a second because that's how long we lasted before busting up laughing again. Zeus calmed down enough to tell us "Alright, alright that's enough for one night. I thing you all need to go back to camp and sleep." We said good bye and flew back to camp on sugar drunk Pegasi. When we landed we said good night and went to bed. I grabbed Thalia just as she started for the Zeus cabin. When she asked what I said "you can get your stuff tomorrow I need help with the other hunters. They are going to be so upset about Zoe." She nodded and came with me. We got inside and were immediately horded. Everyone was asking questions and we tried to answer them all. Then the question I dreaded was asked. Little six years old Chloe asked "where is Zoe?" I picked her up and said "She's watching us from the stars now, kiddo. You want to see?" she nodded I carried her outside followed by the rest of the cabin. I pointed out the new constellation. I didn't hear the Apollo cabin come up but I found myself in a gigantic group hug. Cabin after cabin came and joined the hug until the entire camp including the hunters were in it. I wiped tears from my eyes and stepped up onto the porch of mum's cabin.

"Ok people. I know you are tired but I want to say something" I say. I see fourteen flashes in the forest and the Olympians walked out. "In two years we will have to fight to save the world. Sadly I will be fighting two wars. But I won't complain because that's what we half-blood do, we save the world. During this last quest the huntresses lost two sisters. I lost two sisters. And we never said goodbye. But that happens and we can't undo the fates' decision however we can save as many lives as we can. Those of you who are thinking about joining Kronos remember there are witches and wizards all around the world and all I have to do is talk to their leader. Together we can do this. We aren't just a group of demigods we are all family. Even if our godly parents weren't related we are there for each other, we care for each other even if you don't want to admit it, and we fight together. So for the next two years our job is to stop the war from happening sooner then it's supposed to and recruit new demigods." There was a tremendous roar from the crowd. "At the end of the summer I go back to England and I'm taking my cousin James with me. Now I am sure the year-round campers can work on battle strategies, armor, transportation, and anything else needed. Everyone else, I need a layout of Manhattan, new demigods, and news on the unusual. Is there anything else?" not anything. All the half-bloods went to bed James, Victoria, and Dustin went with the unclaimed. The Gods with kids came forward and handed me a list of names and addresses each. I thanked them and went to bed. Over the next few weeks kids were claimed and we worked hard. We had a few new comers but the major half-blood search would be during the school year. Three days until I had to go Charles Beckendorf came up to me and said "We have some ideas. First the weapons shed and the armory needs organized." "I will get some people on that." "I think we should use the camp chariots" "I do hope you include all of the chariots in camp." "And I think there's an entrance to Daedalus' labyrinth in camp. We have to keep an eye out for the letter delta Δ." "I check it out." "Well I'm going to the chariot garage. See you later." "Don't forget to put some extra supplies in the camp vans." After he was gone I looked around camp for hours. I found it at Zeus' fist and got worried. I went and got Chiron and showed him. I said Luke might try to use it. "I will assign guards to keep an eye on it."

Finally it was time to go. James went to pack (I had already Packed what I would need) and I went over the demigod lists again. A daughter of Hecate Astoria Greengrass, son of Hades Frost Zabini, and sons of Hermes Fred and George Weasley Prewett were all magical. Astoria was also a first year this year and Fred and George were third years. I would talk to all three of them on the train. I said my goodbyes, gave Annabeth keys to the new minivan I her dad, I shrank my car. I held a Portkey out to James and we vanished. We ended up in dad house #12 Grimmauld Place. It was gross but we would work on it "Dad?" I called out. He came out from the kitchen. "Hay kid, who's this?" "James Black. He is the son of Andromeda Tonks nee Black and Lord Apollo. He's my cousin." He nodded and said "You two go pick rooms. They may need cleaned but that goes for pretty much everything here. I'll figure out something for lunch. And watch out for Kreacher the house-elf. If you don't lock the doors at night he sneaks in and you wake up to his face and inch away from yours. And keep quiet on the stairs." We nodded and walked up the stairs. The house must have an undetectable expansion charm on it because there were a lot of rooms. Some of them had names on them; Bellatrix, Andromeda, Narcissa, Regulus, Sirius, Master bedroom. I stopped at one door and looked in. I was a small room filled with random bits of stuff I set my trunk in there and let Shadow and Midnight out. I closed the door and kept walking until I found the attic. I looked around and got a bad feeling. "Kreacher" I called out. A pudgy house-elf appeared glaring at me. "Kreacher, I have done nothing to you. Yes I may be a half-blood but my mother was no muggle. Do you know who she is?" He shook his little head. "My mother is the Greek goddess Artemis. She dated my dad because he's the rebirth of the hero, Orion. My dad's not the best master but I can be not only a mistress but also a friend. I can tell you need something and I need something too. So if I help you will you help me?" He nodded with tears in his eyes and disappeared. He came back with a locket. He told about all the trouble it caused to get it. I told him I think I knew how to destroy it and he got excited.

Summoned an empty box and put the locket inside it. I had Kreacher get rid of all cursed Items he could and put the other ones in a heavily guarded trunk in the black family vault. As he did that I some grime cleaning spells. Once most of the dust and grime was gone I told Kreacher I was going to talk to dad and to come to me when he's done then I left. I walked down the stairs and into the Kitchen and sat down at the table. "So what should I cook? I can make a killer grilled cheese sandwich." James leant forward eagerly but I said "Dad it was so killer the potters went home with bad food poisoning, besides just eating with these utensils can make someone sick. Now about my room; I decided to take the attic. Don't worry about the cursed stuff I have some help with that." Just then Kreacher appeared and said "What should Kreacher do next miss?" "First I need the dishes usable then we need food for three. And don't poison anyone please." "Kreacher will do as you say miss; No poisoning." While Kreacher did that I told dad about what I did. When I was done dad said "I think Kreacher doesn't like me. You know what he's yours. You can have him, Kreacher!" the elf looked over "Serena is your mistress. Do as she say's' understood? You are no longer my house-elf." Kreacher looked happier and cooked faster. After lunch we went upstairs and started cleaning. Dad refused to go into the rooms with nameplates other than his so I would do those rooms later. We ended up only doing James' room and the kitchen before wandering off. James to unpack his stuff, Dad went to his room, and I went to Andromeda's room. I cleaned waved my wand and all the clothes, old books and other stuff packed into and old trunk. I did the same to Bellatrix, Regulus, and Narcissa's rooms. I went to dad's room and knocked on the door and waited. He poked his head out and said "Yeah?" "I have some things to take care of and I will be back is that ok? I'll take Midnight and Shadow, they'll protect me if needed and I am a half blood." "If you are going to diagon ally would you take James to get school supplies? I already ordered his lightning Racer." "Would you mind if I stop by Andromeda's House? I need to drop something off." he nodded and I said "Ok I'll go get James." So I got my cousin and the three trunks and we went outside. I shrank the three trunks and pulled out a portkey dad gave me. James and I each grabbed hold of a wolf then we were whisked off and moments later we landed on a lawn. We stood, brushed ourselves off and walked to the house.

"Ok, James" I told him "don't freak out we are here to see your mother and I have something to do so you can get to know her while I run an errand ok?" "Sure thing little cousin; Out of curiosity what errand?" "Two things James 1st I am older than you, 2nd if it was your business I would tell you. Just don't tell my dad I went some were without you. I'll buy you a pet in diagon ally and I have Shadow and Midnight with me." He agreed and we knocked on the door. A woman with light brown hair, light grey eyes, and a heart shaped face answered. "Yes?" she asked. I looked into her eyes and said "My cousin and I are looking for his mother Andromeda Black." "Come in." we walked in and sat on the couch the young cubs at our feet. She looked at James and said "I am Andromeda, although my last name is Tonks now. Just to make things clear you are my James son of Apollo correct. I didn't want to give you up but my husband Ted was angry when I told him you weren't his. Only after you were gone and Ted was calmed down did he let me explain what happened. I am very, very sorry." "I understand mom. Well Serena, Sirius's daughter, wanted to give you something before taking a walk while we catch up so" I took that as a _hurry up I want to talk to her_ so I pulled the trunk with Andromeda's name and handed it to her. "I packed your stuff from Dad's house in London. To expand it tap it once with your wand. Get rid of what you don't want. See you in a little while." I went outside followed by the two wolves. In the driveway I pulled out my car and expanded it. Once the wolves were in the back seat I started the engine and sped off. After a few direction spells one dead end and three near accidents I found what I was looking for I parked in a safe place and got out. I walked up to the gates and looked for a way in. then a voice said "State your name and business!" I replied "Serena Black, Hear to speak to Narcissa Malfoy." There was a moment of silence then the gates opened. I got Shadow and Midnight and we walked to the front doors were a woman with blond hair and grey eyes stood glaring at me. "Mrs. Malfoy I am Sirius's daughter Serena Black. I may be a half-blood but my mother is no muggle. I am her because my father is staying in the black family home in London. I cannot say more do to a fidelius charm but I can tell you that father is trying to clean it out. I came here to give you these" I pulled out the two trunks "they are your and your sister Bellatrix's stuff from your old room. I didn't go through it just some packing charms. If you want I can have Kreacher take you there later so you can get anything else you find important that I had to stop father from blowing up." By the time I was done her arrogant pureblood mask had come off and she stared at me in shock.

Once she had somewhat composed herself she asked me "May I ask your age?" "I am 11, Ma'am." "Really, I thought you were older. Who is your mother?" she took the trunks and beckoned me and both wolves inside as she asked "My mother is the Greek goddess Artemis" "I read she was a maiden goddess." And so I told her my story from beginning to current. When I got to Bianca's death I choked up and when I got to Zoe's (which I watched in an Iris message) tears started going. When she asked how I was related to the huntresses I told her "when they join the hunt Artemis basically adopts them. So technically they are all my adopted sisters." We sat in silence for a few minutes then I stood and said "I better get going. I have to take my cousin school shopping and my father will be wondering where we are." "All right; Thank you Serena and you can send Kreacher after you talk to Sirius. I shall see you later, Good day." We got back to the car and drove back to Andromeda's home. I told Andromeda I was taking him school shopping and she insisted on coming. So I grabbed a galleon and sent an Iris to dad. "Dad!" _"Wha—what is that?"_ "It's an Iris message. Demigods can't use cellphones and this was faster than any magical communication I know. Anyway Andromeda wants to come with us. We'll go the muggle way so they can talk some more with each other. Oh I forgot to tell you Uncle Apollo gave me a car." _"See you there"_ I swiped my hand through the mist and the connection was cut. So we all climbed in Andromeda in the passenger's seat and James in back with Shadow and Midnight. We got to diagon ally and I looked at the time. 2:30P.M. we walked to Gringotts and I walked to a counter. I looked at the goblin and said "greeting master Goblin. May your vault overflow with the gold and your sword be covered in the blood of your enemy's. I require a meeting with master Griphook." The goblin looked at me and nodded. He led us to Griphook and left with a small bow. I asked them to stand outside for a minute then turned to the goblin. "I understand you were expecting me to come tomorrow but I brought my cousin for last minute shopping and I decided to, as the muggles say, kill two birds with one stone." The goblin nodded and reached into a desk drawer and pulled out the rings. I looked at Griphook as he told me "each ring goes on a different finger. The Slytherin goes on the middle left finger, Sir Durnure's on the middle right, and the Pendragon index right finger." I put them on as he said and watched them glow and adjust to fit my fingers. I called James and Andromeda in. I explained what I did the watched them react. Andromeda bowed and James said "Queen? That's cool little cousin." I ignored him and turned back to Griphook and said "Will you please test James for headship?" Griphook nodded and turned to James. After dropping James' blood on some parchment he found James to be the heir of the Royal of Emrys, the noble and most ancient house of Gryffindor, and the house of sir Bruin the black of the round table.

On our way down to one of my many vaults James asked me many questions. "What did he mean when he said heir of the most magical and wisest house of Emrys and the house of sir Bruin the black of the round table?" "In magic England there are levels of importance. It started with the king and queen, then the most magical and wisest, the Knights of the Round Table, the noble and most ancient, the most noble, the most ancient, then everyone else. It's a chain of dominance and I am at the top, the third, and the fourth. You are the second, third, and fourth. You being the heir of Merlin Emrys are my advisor which means you can tell me your opinions without having your tongue cut out." At the look on his face I laughed "I was kidding the wizards don't cut tongue's anymore the worst that will happen is you get sent to Azkaban for a while. Well if someone tries to kill me because they don't like me and they lose a duel against me I have the right to through them into the veil of death. And as the queen of Camelot I can bring innocent people who went in for someone else back because one of my ancestors helped build it." He nodded as we stopped at the family vault of Bruin the black. I couldn't go in but I told him to look for the family sword. He found it under Bruin's portrait. We stopped at the other three family vaults to get the sword of Gryffindor, the Daggers of Hufflepuff, and the staff of Emrys. In my vaults I grabbed the Slytherin staff, Ravenclaw's bow and quiver, the sword of Sir Durnure, and finally the Excalibur from the stone. The scabbard was by a portrait of King Arthur. Back above ground we had magical wallets made. James and I both chose black leather wallets with our family crests two on each side. Griphook told us to come back the next day. We went and got all of James' needed supplies then we went to magical menagerie. "No more than three." I say to him then went to the desk man. "I asked you to take care of a young wolf for me. I am here to retrieve her." He nodded the led me in back where they were both in a cage with barely enough room for them. "That crazy wolf tried to eat me when you left. Here take it and leave" He shoved a key and a collar in my hand. I growled as I pulled a leash from a hook and unlocked the cage.

I let her out and put the collar and leash on her. I came out and found James holding a hawk on his shoulder with a lion and an Australian shepherd dog on leashes. I shook my head and paid for his companions and other and we left. We said goodbye to Andromeda and used my portkey to get home. I had Kreacher cook dinner. Up in the attic I piled the boxes against the wall then went down to the kitchen and said "Kreacher I need you to bring Narcissa strait to the living room. Can you please go get her?" he took the note and disappeared only to reappear and do what he was doing before. "What did the note say" Asked dad "Oh, dad, you might want to hide in your room because Narcissa, your cousin, is here to get some stuff." He bolted up the stairs and slammed the bedroom door. I walked into the living room and greeted her. I led her up stairs and said "take what you want. Just leave fathers room alone please. He is hiding under his bed and if you walk in he will have a heart attack." We smirked when we heard him yell "I'm not hidden' under my bed and I'm not old enough for heart attacks you brat." Narcissa looked around and put a few things in a trunk she brought. She finished the same time dinner was done. I offered her to stay but she had plans with her family and dad was screaming louder than the portrait of his mother. I said good bye to her, told dad she was gone, and had Kreacher take grandmothers portrait to the black family vault. We all sat down and ate then I went to sort through the house packing up rooms that needed cleaned and sent the boxes to my attic room starting with the room I put my trunk and my wolves in there. Before I left a room I would do some cleaning spells making it brighter and cleaner and you could actually see out the windows. I had gone through and cleaned every unused bedroom. Up in my room I started going through the boxes. I had three piles: keep, toss, and donate. All of the boxes were emptied a contents were gone through and sorted. Once all gone through I boxed the donated things by the door, turned the garbage to ash tossed it in the trash bags by the door, and stacked the keeps in boxes on the far wall.

I had Kreacher take the ash to the dump then come right back. When he came back I said "Kreacher I am not replacing you I need more help around here so would you please go find some house-elves in need." He nodded and disappeared. A moment later he was back with a pair, Dobby and Winky. Dobby was saved by Harry Potter and Winky was fired for messing up the laundry. "Do you to want to work for me?" "Dobby is wanting paid if it is being convenient for yous." "You get four galleons a week no negotiation. Welcome to the family before I do anything else" I cleared my through "I Serena Dorea Black-Slytherin-Pendragon heir of Sir Durnure the Black of the Round Table accept house-elves Dobby and Winky as workers for me." A flash of light and both elves were wearing black uniforms with two coats of arms on each of the sleeves. I did the same with Kreacher then said "I need the boxes by the door to be donated. Then I need the house-elf heads in the hall to at least be moved to an empty bedroom. Actually I want them in the room with the three wolves in it if Kreacher really wants to have them. If Kreacher is willing I will dig some graves for them." Kreacher started babbling "Mistress is too kind – mistress is very good – Kreacher is not deserving Mistress – house-elves having graves like masters is a higher honor then the wall." I calmed him down and had him go and help remove them from the wall then we apparated to a clearing in the forbidden forest of Hogwarts. I magically dug the graves (only four), we put the heads in we said a few words then we put the dirt back and put a large rock at the head of the four graves. They took me home ware I spent the night in one of the spare rooms. The next morning we ate and continued cleaning. We cleaned fast with magic and the three house-elves and were done by lunch. I went up to the attic which was void of necessary furniture.

I told dad I was going to diagon ally and took Kreacher and James with me. We went to Gringotts first to get our wallets then James went home and I walked over to a furniture store and looked at the bedroom sets. I chose a dark King size canopy bed with two matching side tables, wardrobe, and dresser. The bedding was expensive simple black silk sheets a black comforter with my Four crests on it around the Greek Ω and four silk pillow cases on feather pillows. I paid for them, shrank them, and then went to muggle hardware store. I got black paint and wooden boards I had them put them in the ally for me to _get them later_. I went and rented a moving truck and had Kreacher measure the floor of my attic. He popped them to me as I parked the rental truck. I then had Kreacher get some wood-stain and protection cans from the magic world. (Some things like flooring wood were better in the muggle world ware as the wood-stain was mixed with protection potions stopping wood-rot, bugs and aging.) I started loading the wood two planks at a time. With that done I drove to an abandoned house, called Dobby and Winky, and had them take the wood home. I took the truck back then apparated home. I slept in the small room Midnight, shadow, and Eclipse (names were chosen in a theme) that night. The next morning I woke up first and went to work. I prepped the new boards then started pulling up and replacing floorboards. The room was livable now. I set up my bedroom then brought my wolf pack up. The rest of the summer went by and we trained and went to the castle to play Quidditch and hung out until the end of the summer the night before we left we packed our stuff and made sure the house was tidy. My House-Elves made us a big dinner, Dad sent our trunks (leaving what we needed for tomorrow) to his school courters, and we went to bed.

A/N: so I'm gonna start the war early in both worlds. I think it gives them a slightly longer vacation. please don't forget to review.


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